Card Captor Harry, Season One
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Summary: [Complete!] Spinoff of Harry Potter and the Magic Book:Release! Harry buys the Clow Book in Diagon Alley and unwittingly unleashes the Clow Cards. To make up for this, Keroberos chooses him to become the Card Captor! Did his life just get worse?
1. HP and the Mysterious Magic Book

A/N: Someone encouraged me, so I'm doing it. If you want to blame someone, blame Ran Hoshino-san for giving my other Harry Potter/Card Captor Sakura fic, Harry Potter and the Magic Book: Release, a good review and saying an extended version would be nice. Enjoy!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 1, The Windy: Harry Potter and the Mysterious Magic Book

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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It was a beautiful summer day. At Privet drive, the Dursleys were bidding aunt Marge good bye-

Whoops, wrong view. Let's try this again.

Ah, here we are. It was a beautiful summer day, and Harry James Evans Potter, the-boy-who-lived, friend of House Elves who want to be free, Sorcerer's Stone Protector, Basilisk Slayer, Dark Lord frustrater, Gryffindor Seeker and all around nice guy, was enjoying every minute of it. After rather messily blowing up his aunt, balloon fashion, and a dramatic exit that found him on a purple triple-decker whose driver couldn't drive and led to an encounter with the Minister of Magic, he had found himself with two whole Dursley-free weeks at his disposal. Granted, one-and-a-half of those weeks were gone, but hey, no Dursleys! Who was he to complain?

After bath, breakfast, and looking at the Firebolt at Quality Quidditch Supplies, he set out to do what he had been doing since he had finished his homework: window shopping.

Harry had to leave his moneybag in his room at the Leaky Cauldron. He could exercise restraint for only so long before he went and bought something, and the only way he could prevent _that_ was by making sure he wasn't carrying money with him.

By the time lunch rolled around, he had visited an apothecary, a pet store, Zonko's and a sweet shop, and had nearly had to buy dragon dung, squirted on by a flower, been attacked by a crow, and eaten enough free samples to fill a gift box.

Ah, life was good.

After having lunch at a cafe, he felt ready for another round of window-shopping. Trouble was, since he had been doing this for a week and a half, there were very few stores he hadn't gone to yet.

Deciding to try something new, he went to one of the stores he still hadn't visited.

Now, one might ask why he hadn't been to this store yet. Well, there is a very simple reason.

It was a used-books store. A certified Hermione-zone.

Entering the shop, he found it overflowing with dusty, worn and just plain ancient books.

"Hermione would have a field day here," Harry muttered as he glanced at the shopkeeper, who was asleep on the counter and so still that spiders had woven webs on him. If Harry hadn't checked to find out otherwise, he would have said the man was dead.

He wandered the rows of books, occasionally glancing at their titles. The Wizards Guide to Muggle Behavior. Growing Arms For Fun and Profit. The Complyt Aend Unabrydged Gyde To Pyxys. Spells Any Sorcerer Out To Save The World Should Know: Kill And Overkill.

Harry paused over that one, thinking briefly of getting it, then decided against it. It was probably just a load of crock.

After spending all of twenty minutes in the store, Harry decided not even Hermione would bother with this place. All the books here were so full of junk, it would be hazardous to the environment to use them as fertilizer.

As he was about to leave, he accidentally brushed a book, causing it to fall on the ground. Habits ingrained by years of cleaning up for the Dursleys made him bend down to pick it up.

Harry stared at the book, transfixed. It was a thick, red book with a broken lock, looking a bit like a journal or diary. Harry shuddered at the memory of the last and thankfully _only _magic diary he had ever encountered.

On its cover were the words 'The Clow'. Below that was the image of a winged creature that looked vaguely like a lion. Harry turned it over. There was nothing on the back, just red leather. Nothing interesting at all. And yet, Harry felt he couldn't put it down. As if in a trance, Harry slowly opened the cover.

"You going to buy that?" a wheezy, slightly nasal voice asked from the counter.

Harry jerked himself away from the book, letting the cover fall. The old shopkeeper was looking at him with bleary eyes, wisps of cobwebs sticking in his hair.

"Ah, sure," Harry said, surprising himself. He reached into his pocket, feeling a few Knuts, a couple of Sickles, and a Galleon- how did _that_ get there? - jingling around. "How much?"

The shopkeeper peered closely at the book he was holding. "Oh, two Knuts, I guess. That old thing can't possibly be worth more."

Harry fished two of the bronze coins from his pocket and walked over to the shopkeeper. "I'll take it," he said, laying out the money in front of him.

The shopkeeper deposited the money in an ancient wooden register that looked old enough to have seen the Industrial Revolution. "Have a nice day," the man said.

Harry was halfway back to the Leaky Cauldron when he realized exactly what he had done. He'd bought a book. And not just any book, but an old, used book, _when he had absolutely no idea what was in it_, much less _why he bought it in the first place_.

Harry didn't mind the cost- after all, it was only two Knuts- he was more concerned about the feeling that something had coerced him into buying the book. Could the book possibly be magical?

Then Harry laughed at himself, immediately stifling it so that no one would think he was crazy. He had bought the book in Diagon Alley, where wizards bought and brought their wares, what was basically an, if not _the_, economic center of the English magical world. Of course the book was magical! Or at least, related to magic in some fashion.

The question Harry shifted to was what kind of magic was in the book. It had barely been three months since a cursed diary that had once belonged to Voldemort had possessed Ginny. Who was to say that there wasn't any kind of similar magic on _this _book.

Then Harry stopped that line of thought. _Stop it_, he chided himself. _You're reading too much into a situation because of a recent unfortunate incident. It was just an impulse buy. You didn't suspect that Stan had put a spell on you when you agreed to ride on the Knight Bus even when it had nearly run over you._

_I mean, come on!_ he continued to rationalize as he neared the bar-slash-inn. _It's not as if every strange book in the world you would normally never buy has been cursed by Lord Voldemort._

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At his room in the Cauldron, Harry sat on his bed, staring at the book. Then, shrugging, he opened it.

"What the heck?" he said.

Inside the book, a square space had been cut out. In that space, what looked like a card had been placed. The card was unlike anything Harry had ever seen. Inside an unusual border was a drawing of a woman, although there seemed to be something strange about her. Underneath her picture were the words The Windy.

"The what?" Harry said aloud. Carefully prying out the card, he saw there were more beneath it. He pried out the next two. One showed either a little girl or a short woman holding a mirror, the other a strange rabbit-cat creature that seemed to be running towards him. Beneath were the words The Mirror and The Dash, respectively.

Harry stared at the cards for a long moment. They didn't move. That meant, he concluded, that they weren't magical. Magical illustrations moved.

Although slightly disappointed that what he had bought wasn't magical, at least it couldn't be cursed.

Shaking his head ruefully, he made a note to be more careful with his impulse buys. He looked at the first card he had pried out.

"The Windy," he said aloud. "Hmm…"

And with that, a hurricane began in his room.

Harry had a split second to notice the design that glowed beneath his feet before gale force winds suddenly swirled through the room. Startled, Harry dropped the book. Caught by the wind, the book went flying. Gravity and then wind managed to grab the cards from their recess. For a moment, the cards swirled around the room. Then, suddenly, they became points of light.

Moving at high speeds, Harry saw them pass through the walls of his room as if they weren't there. He felt something tugging the three cards he still held in his hand, and instinctively held them tighter, shielding them from the wind.

In a relatively short amount of time later, the wind died down. Shakily, Harry stood. His room was trashed. It looked like…well, it looked like a tornado hit. Which, technically, it had.

"Whoa!" Harry breathed. Okay, his bad. The cards _were_ magical. Looking around the devastation that was his room, he considered it lucky Hedwig was off having a check-up; otherwise, he was sure she'd have more than a few ruffled feathers to worry about.

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Forsythe Penn was walking along Diagon Alley, eager to get home after a fun day of shopping, when he felt a sudden weakness pass over him. Sagging suddenly, and feeling very tired, he concluded that he had had more fun than he thought. Forcing himself to move, he headed to the Leaky Cauldron so he could Floo powder home.

He didn't notice that his shadow was gone.

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Harry thanked his lucky stars that his room was pretty threadbare. Not much had to be cleaned up, although what there was of it made the place look like a train wreck. Luckily, Harry was used to cleaning up after Dudley, who was even messier than the pigs he looked like. At his cleanest and most fastidious, Dudley was still ten times messier than the room currently was.

Picking up the book from where it lay on the ground, Harry placed it on the bed next to the three cards he had left. As he stepped back, however, the book began to glow.

Harry stepped back, wondering what new surprise his little impulse buy had in store for him. He _really_ wished he had his two Knuts back.

The book glow, growing brighter and brighter until...

Pop!

Harry blinked. Somehow, a 'pop' wasn't exactly what he was expecting.

From the 'pop', however, came a curious looking creature. It was the size of a teddy bear, completely the same shade of yellow-orange, and vaguely humanoid in shape. Its head was oversized, with two semi-circular ears, also like a teddy bear. In fact, of it weren't for the fact that it had two miniscule wings on it's back and was floating, Harry would have said it was a teddy bear.

It yawned. Loudly. "Ahh!" it said. "What a nice nap!"

It turned around saw Harry, surprised. "Hey! Who are you?"

Harry swallowed. "I'm Harry Potter. Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

"Oh," the thing said, spinning around in a strangely pompous manner. "I am Keroberos, the Chooser, Guardian of the Sun and protector of the Clow Cards."

There was a pause as the thing- Keroberos- noticed the wide-open and empty book. "The Clow Cards! Where are they?"

Harry pointed to the cards he had tucked under the book.

Keroberos dived down to the cards and pulled them out from under the book. "One, two, three..." he counted. "Where are the rest? There are supposed to be 52 of them! What happened to the rest?"

Harry shuffled. "Well, you see..." and he told him what had happened to the cards.

"WHAT?" Keroberos yelled. For a little thing, he had a healthy set of lungs. Fortunately, the room was soundproof. "You blew them away? That's horrible!"

"Why?" asked Harry. He didn't see what the fuss was about.

Keroberos looked at him intently, and Harry was somehow reminded of Dumbledore, without the beard, robes and height. "Listen to me. The Clow Cards are dangerous. They were created more than a hundred years by a great wizard named Clow Reed. Fifty-two cards, each with a specific ability, all of incredible power. He created them by combining powerful aspects of Western and Eastern Magic. They were used against the evil wizards of the day, but they were also kept secret, because Clow feared their power would be abused if their existence was commonly known. When he died, he appointed me to watch over the cards and to choose a successor who will take care of them."

Keroberos shuffled his feet in mid-air, and the Dumbledore impression disappeared. "Unfortunately, you somehow released them while I was taking a nap. Now they're loose and it's all your fault!"

Harry was taken aback at the accusation. "My fault?" he repeated. "You're the one who was asleep on the job!"

Keroberos ignored that little truth. "You're the one who released them, you have to help me get them back!"

"Me?'" Harry repeated. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation. Granted, he'd had a lot of weird conversations with a lot of weird people since he became a wizard, but this took the cake.

"Yes, you," Keroberos said. "I'm powerless to catch the cards on my own, so you have to do it for me. If you don't, horrible things could happen because of the cards."

"Like what?" Harry wanted to know.

Keroberos stared at him and the Dumbledore impersonation was back. "They might burn the city. Or sink the country. Or simply erase people from existence. It's hard to say. But I guarantee the lots of people will get hurt. Or even killed. That's what might happen."

Harry's jaw dropped. "We have to tell the Ministry of Magic," he managed to breath. "They can handle this-"

"NO!" Keroberos said, cutting him off. "That's the last thing we want to do! They were a secret even from the Ministry. Clow was afraid of what they would do to his cards if they found out about their existence. He was afraid they would either abuse their power, or destroy them."

Harry was shocked. "That's not how the Ministry does business," he said.

Keroberos raised an eyebrow. "How well do you know the Ministry to be able to make that assessment?"

Harry opened his mouth, then, on second thought, shut it.

"Exactly," Keroberos said. "Look, Harry right? Please Harry, you have to help me gather the cards, and do it in secret. The fate of the whole world may depend on it."

As many of you know, full consideration wasn't really Harry's strong suit. Oh, he could think things through, but he didn't do it in every situation, which is why he'd had his share of detentions at school, and tended to get dropped in the middle of the latest intrigue to grip Hogwarts. Still his heart was always in the right place, even if it gave him slightly off directions.

"All right," he said. "I'll help you."

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Constantine Johnson was heading home from his job at an apothecary when he felt he glimpsed a strange shadow out of the corner of his eye. Thinking of Sirius Black, he reacted fast, whirling on the spot and pointing his wand at it-

- and nearly fainting where he stood as a sudden dizziness engulfed him. Holding on to a nearby wall for support, Constantine saw it was just someone in a black hood. Cursing himself for overreacting and muttering that he must be more tired than he thought, he headed for home, ignorant of the fact he no longer had his shadow.

Keroberos, however, suddenly became very much aware of the fact.

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Harry was surprised when Keroberos suddenly whirled in mid-air, staring out in the direction of Diagon Alley. The wachamacallim appeared intent, as if listening for something.

"It's begun," Keroberos said, turning back to face Harry. "A Card has awakened. You need to help me catch it now."

"All right," Harry said, surprised his commitment was being called in so soon.

Keroberos stared intently at the book, which began to glow. From the lock came a sphere of light, which flew over to Harry and hovered in front of him. "Take it," Keroberos said.

Taking a deep breath and wondering what the heck he had gotten himself into, Harry wrapped a fist around the sphere of light. There was a final burst of radiance, and then both glows subsided. The lock on the book had been mended, and the book itself looked like new: no more scratches, smudges or discoloration.

Harry opened his hand. Resting on his palm was a small key. Its head reminded him of a red bird's beak with white wings on the side.

"That's the sealing wand," Keroberos explained. "You can use it to capture the Clow Cards."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't look like a wand."

"We'll take care of that later," Keroberos said, flying to the door, then stopping. "Wait! You need to hide me! I mean, if I'm seen, the secret's out!"

Harry rolled his eyes, grabbed Keroberos and stuffed him under his jacket. "Stay under there," he said, opening the door.

"Wait!" Keroberos said. "Bring the Cards."

Harry rolled his eyes, turned, grabbed the cards from of the bed and stuffed them into his jacket with Keroberos. Thankfully, the jacket used to be Dudley's so there was a _lot_ of room. Better still, since Dudley always had to have the best, this was one of those with lots of pockets, both internal and external.

Now equipped with Keroberos, the Key, the Cards and his wand, Harry left his room.

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Harry walked down Diagon Alley, following whispered directions from Keroberos.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" he asked.

Keroberos peered out of Harry's jacket. "That," he said, pointing.

A man was walking slowly, obviously tired, eyes slightly glazed.

"What about him?" Harry whispered back.

"Look at his feet," Keroberos clarified.

Harry looked. It took him a while, but he got it.

"What happened to his shadow?" Harry gasped.

Keroberos' eyes narrowed. "The Shadow Card," he said. "It stole their shadows."

"'Their'?" Harry repeated. He looked around, noticing that the man wasn't the only one without a shadow. "Why do they look so weak?"

"When the Shadow Card stole their shadows, it also took part of their life force. In wizards, it takes away a lot of their magic," Keroberos explained. "They'll be like this unless we can capture The Shadow Card. There!"

Harry followed where he was pointing. What looked like a black-cloaked man with his hood up was just turning the corner. Picking up his pace, he followed the man around the corner.

Rounding the bend, he saw the street was empty, the man alone. As he debated what to do, Keroberos took the decision out of his hands.

Flying out of Harry's jacket, he yelled, "Hold it right there, Shadow Card!"

The man paused, then slowly turned around. Harry gasped.

The front of the cloak was open, and where he expected someone to be, there was nothing but darkness, the inky blackness of a perfect night without stars. Somehow, he felt something staring at him wordlessly from the darkness.

"Keroberos," Harry said softly, not breaking the feeling of eye contact. "What am I supposed to do?"

"You have to catch him," Keroberos said. "Use the Key and the Cards you have. When you catch him, you take him out of commission, and you prove that you are his master."

Harry did a double take. "What?" he said. "What was that about a master?"

"Remember what I said about choosing a successor?" Keroberos said. "Well, I choose you. I can feel your strength. You have it in you to become the Master of the Cards."

"Excuse me?" Harry said.

"Harry- um, what was your last name again?" Keroberos asked.

"Potter."

The Guardian nodded. "Right. Harry Potter, I choose you as the Card Captor, he who will inherit the Clow Cards of Clow Reed. And your first order of business," he pointed, "is to catch that Shadow Card!"

The Shadow Card, hearing this, attacked.

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Harry had a split second of warning before the shadows came charging after him. His reflexes, homed by years of running from Dudley when he wanted to use him as a punching bag, and more recently by bludgers, Basilisks and Dark Wizards' curses, allowed him to run away from all the shadows that came after him.

Grabbing Keroberos, he turned around and ran.

"Hey!" the Sun Guardian said. "Where are you going?"

"Away from _that_," Harry thumbed over his shoulder.

"You have to stand up and fight!" Keroberos said, struggling in his grip.

"With what? I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school. I would be expelled!"

"Use the Sealing Wand!"

"The _what?_"

"The Sealing Wand," Keroberos repeated. "Clow designed it so that it wouldn't be detectable by the Ministry's methods, and it can act as a regular wand."

Harry pulled the Key out of his pocket. "This little thing? You've gotta be kidding me! It doesn't even look like a wand!"

"You have to say the incantation," Keroberos said, finally getting loose and flying close to his ear.

"_Now_ you tell me!"

"This is what you say…"

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Harry looked over his shoulder. The shadows had fallen back, still after them, but not gaining. It was like the Shadow Card wanted him to escape.

Sighing to himself and wondering if he was crazy, Harry stopped and turned around to face the approaching shadows.

Raising the Key in his hand, he began to chant.

"Key of power," he intoned, "show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it!

"RELEASE!"

As he had begun to speak, a pattern had appeared under Harry's feet. Made of glowing lines of gold, it showed a six-pointed sun within a circle, with a crescent moon on one edge. Now as he finished, the Key glowed, and wisps of wind seemed to surround it. The Key lengthened, becoming what Harry felt could properly be called a wand.

Catching it as it floated in front of him, he twirled it around a couple of times, getting the feel of it.

"Use the Windy Card! Bind them in air!" Keroberos said.

Harry pulled out the cards from his jacket. "How do I do that?"

"Toss the card in the air and slam the Wand on it while invoking the name of the card!"

Harry felt his eyebrow go up. Throwing the proper card into the air, he did as he was told, shouting, "Windy Card!" in the way he usually cast his spells.

The Wand struck the card and stopped dead as if it had hit stone. The card glowed, and greenish-yellow wisps spiraled up from it, forming into the beautiful woman whose image had been on the card as the card itself disappeared.

"Bind them!" he directed, even as he marveled at this beautiful woman who had come out of nowhere-

-no, that wasn't true. She hadn't come out from nowhere. She had come out of the card.

No, that wasn't right.

She _was_ the card!

The woman- the Windy Card- raised her hands, and the same yellow wisps of wind appeared. Quickly, they wrapped around the magical shadows, trapping them.

The Shadow Card, seeing this, started to retreat.

"He's getting away, Harry," Keroberos said. "Use The Dash Card and go after him."

Harry pulled out the card. "Dash Card!"

Harry felt a rush of power seem to flow through him. He felt light as a feather. He began to run after the retreating Shadow Card.

Suddenly, he seemed to feel a jolt inside him. Even as he watched, the Windy Card disappeared, becoming once more a card that appeared in front of him. Instinctively, he grabbed it.

Unfortunately, that meant the bindings had gone. That shadows were free again.

He ran past and around the shadows, using his unbelievable new speed to avoid them as he ran towards the Shadow Card. Above him, away from the shadows reach, Keroberos followed.

"So how do I capture him?" Harry called out as he avoided the shadows clutches.

"Just do as I say…" Keroberos said.

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"Hold it right there!" Harry called out.

The Shadow Card, despite itself, turned around.

"I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form!" Harry said, raising the Sealing Wand over his head and bringing it down. "Shadow Card!"

The pattern of lines of gold appeared once more beneath Harry's feet as his wand stopped once more and an outline of a card appeared under its head. The Shadow Card began to dissolve into black wisps of magic, and was drawn into the card outline. As more of the Shadow Card was drawn in, the card became more substantial. Eventually, it solidified, and became a card like the other three that were already in Harry's possession. In front was the image of the black hooded man, with the words 'The Shadow' beneath it.

Harry seemed to sag, sighing. "Well, that was slightly embarrassing," he said as he caught the Shadow Card. He was suddenly tackled by an ecstatic Sun Guardian.

"You did it Harry! You caught the Shadow Card!" Keroberos said.

"Will all those people be alright?" Harry asked.

Keroberos nodded. "Their shadows came back when you caught the Shadow Card. Speaking of which, we better go while there's still nobody around."

Harry agreed.

As they left, neither noticed the silver flash that leaned back around a corner and was gone.

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Harry walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, Keroberos once more hidden in his jacket along with the cards.

"You did a good job," said Keroberos.

"Thanks," Harry said. "I've had a lot of experience."

Keroberos raised an eyebrow. "I'll take you word for it."

"You don't believe me?"

"Not really. I don't know you yet."

Harry shrugged. "Fair enough."

"You have to keep things secret," Keroberos said to him. "About me, about the Cards, everything. If the Ministry gets a hold of us… well, we don't know the Ministry well enough to know what they'll do, so better safe than sorry."

"Well, if we're going to keep secrets, we're going to have to be formally introduced," Harry said. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter, wizard-in-schooling and Card Captor. Pleasure to meet you."

"And I'm Keroberos, Sun Guardian and Chooser," Keroberos said. "But you can call me Kero. Pleasure's all mine."

Harry chuckled. "I think we're going to get along just fine…"

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: For those who read 'Release!', there are changes. This is set earlier in the book timeline. In case it's not obvious, this happens in 'Azkaban', third book canon, with maybe a few tweaks, on Harry's second week away from the Dursley's. I'll try to build around canon events, but I have my limits. Any chance to do any Dorco bashing, hooking up Harry, or make things a bit more cheery... well, no promises to stick to canon. My muse already has scenarios that go way into the fourth book, and I want to culminate this as much as possible on canon terms, so this probably won't be done 'til seven is out. _sigh_ So I really hope that Mrs. Rowling gets done seven faster than it took her to finish five, which was the most delayed. In the mean time, three to five, and six when I finally read it, are good to go.

Yes, Lina Inverse's book from my Slayers/Harry Potter fic makes an appearance.

If you're wondering how Keroberos knows about the Ministry, it has been around for a really long time. It was probably around when Keroberos was last out.

Not to sure about what happens your shadow gets stolen by a Clow Card, so I threw in a couple of usual symptoms.

Sorry if Harry's lines are a bit off, I was working from a subtitled episode of CCS.

Mini Spoilers:

I'll also try to work in the events I alluded to in 'Release!', but the first years drowning in flower petals and the theatre club's blackout are lost causes; I already have plans for those cards.

There might be pairings, we'll see. If I do have them, I won't go easy on Harry.

(Poor Harry _snicker_)

To Ran Hoshino-san: Harry will have an opponent, but it won't be Sakura and Syaoran's kid. I won't say more, only that his opponent won't appear for a while, probably Card six. (uh, is Syaoran's last name spelled 'Lee' or 'Li'?)

Final note, I have something _way _weird planned for Yue! I won't say anything more, but I hope you like it.

Please review, C&C welcome. Heck, even flames are welcome. That means at least it's being read, if not liked.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	2. Capt 'Em, Capt 'Em, Gotta Capt 'em All

When we last saw our hero, he had just captured The Shadow Card, and become Keroberos' chosen Card Captor. What new peril and pitfalls await our teen hero? Find out, next...

_Double, double, toil and trouble,_

_Fire burn and cauldron bubble._

_Double, double, toil and trouble,_

_Something wicked this way comes..._

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 2, The Fly: Capt 'Em, Capt 'Em, Gotta Capt 'Em All

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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Harry Potter was having a seriously weird day. No, actually, that's inaccurate. The weirdness had started last night, when a... whatever-you-wanna-call-him named Keroberos- Kero for short- had popped out of this book Harry had bought.

This had promptly led to Harry being chosen as the Card Captor, which had promptly led to his capturing The Shadow Card.

Fortunately, Harry had a lot of experience dealing with weird, Paradigm Shifting events. Being told you're a wizard at the ripe old age of eleven after years of being told there was no such thing as magic tends to help you learn how to gain your footing.

Weird event before dinner, followed by weird revelation and weird incident, a good nights sleep, and Harry was back on firm ground by breakfast. You just can't keep a good wizard down. Especially _this_ one.

"Diagon Alley sure hasn't changed much," Keroberos said, hiding in Harry's jacket. "I swear that's the same place Clow used to buy potion ingredients."

"Diagon Alley's been around for a while," Harry said. "I wouldn't be surprised if it is."

Harry and Keroberos had spent dinner- in Harry's room; he'd had it sent up-, the time before sleeping, and breakfast getting to know each other. By the time they'd finished the most important meal of the day, Keroberos pretty much had Harry's life story. It only reinforced his belief that he had chosen the right person to become the Card Captor, never mind that it was only because Harry was the first and only person he saw.

Harry, for his part, had become very good friends with Keroberos, although he wondered how he was going to explain this to Ron and Hermione… or if he should tell them at all. Given what Keroberos had said about their lack of knowledge of what the Ministry might do if they found out about them, telling a boy whose father worked at the Ministry, and a girl whose first piece of advice would be to tell Dumbledore, who might let it slip to the Ministry, didn't seem like such a good idea, even though said boy and girl were his best friends.

"So, feel anything?" asked Keroberos.

One of the reasons that they were walking around Diagon Alley was that they were trying to 'feel' the presence of any Clow Cards in the area. Keroberos had taught him the trick last night using The Mirror Card. While disturbing to see a mirror image of himself- one that apparently can become female; UGH!- he _had_ learned how to 'feel' Clow Cards so he could find them. The training, however, had a side-effect: it made him sensitive to magic, so he was now also able to 'feel' it when people used their wands. Since he was surrounded by wizards at all sides, that meant there was a lot of magical 'background noise', making feeling for the Clow Cards difficult.

Hence, they were scouring Diagon Alley on foot, feeling for Clow Cards, and, in Harry's case, trying to get used to the 'background noise'. After all, he didn't have anything better to do- he'd looked at the Firebolt already that morning- so what the heck?

"If I missed anything, shouldn't you be telling me?" Harry asked pointedly. "After all, you're more used to this stuff than I am."

"I'm testing you," Keroberos said.

Harry gave him a look.

Keroberos somehow managed to roll his eyes, little pinpoints that they were. "Oh, give me a break! It's been years! Of course I'm a little rusty!"

Harry smirked, shaking his head.

Passing the same pet store he went to yesterday, he suddenly stopped and stared at the place. "Did you feel that?" he asked Keroberos.

Keroberos peaked out of Harry's jacket. "Sure did," he answered back cautiously, aware that there were people around. "It's a Card, definitely."

Harry reached into his pocket, feeling the reassuring form of the Key. His four Clow Cards were hidden in an inner pocket of his jacket, next to Keroberos. With the Key and his Cards, he was fairly sure he could take down anything. Still, it was nice to be reminded they were there.

Entering the shop, he was greeted by a cacophony of shrieks, craws, high-pitched chirping and a weird rendition of 'Singin' in the Rain'. Keeping an eye out for the crow that had attacked him yesterday, he tried to find the source of the 'feeling'.

Coming to a cage, he stopped. Peering into the cage, he took a couple of steps backwards, stopped, and walked back. Couple of steps to the right, stop, look back. Rinse, repeat left.

"You have got to be kidding me," Harry muttered.

"What?" Keroberos asked, hiding in the jacket since there were people around.

"I've found a Card," Harry whispered to him. "Hold on."

Remembering the cage, Harry walked over to the front counter.

"Excuse me," he said, "How much are those puffskeins?"

"Three Sickles each," the attendant said in a bored fashion, looking like she wanted to be somewhere else. "Just bring it here and pay for it. A cage costs an extra five Knuts."

Harry walked back to the cage with the puffskeins, checking his money as he went. He'd brought his moneybag with him today, since he hadn't planned on window-shopping, and so had more than enough to cover the cost.

Peering into the cage, he grabbed a puffskein and took it to the front counter. Handing the attendant the money, he held on to the puffskein as she rang up the bill. He needed to hold on to the puffskein, as it was trying to jump all over the place.

"Pretty energetic one you've got there," the attendant commented as Harry shoved the puffskein into a cardboard carrying-cage. "You sure you don't want a more mellow one?"

"No thanks," Harry said, finally getting the cage shut, then holding of for dear life as the puffskein's bouncing caused the cage to go up and down like a ball. "I like mine full of life."

The attendant shrugged. "It's your pet," she said, handing him a receipt.

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Harry left the pet shop, having barely avoided another attack from that pesky crow. What did that thing have against him, anyway? Holding on to the cardboard cage, which hadn't stopped jumping around, he went looking for a deserted alleyway.

"You have the Card?" Keroberos asked.

Grabbing the cage with both hands, he held it close to Keroberos. "You can't be so rusty you can't feel _this_," Harry said.

Keroberos poked his head out of the jacket a little. "It's The Jump Card," Keroberos said.

"Well, that explains why it won't stop hopping around," Harry said, struggling to contain the little beast, and muttering dark things when it nearly sent his glasses flying. "What does it do- besides be annoying?"

He distinctly heard Keroberos snicker.

"It allows you jump really high, and still land safely," was the reply.

"How high?"

"Clow once used it to jump over Big Ben."

"Oh," Harry breathed. "_That_ high. This Clow guy wasn't pulling any punches when he made these things, was he?"

"He liked to do them over the top, or not at all," Keroberos verified.

"How did he die, again?"

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Finally finding an empty alleyway, Harry was all set to Capture the Card when he realized there was a little problem.

He couldn't put the cage down.

"Any ides?" he asked Keroberos, who had left the jacket for the moment.

Keroberos shrugged. "Hit it with something?"

"The way it's jumping around?" Harry retorted. "I'm more likely to hit my own arm."

"Put it down?"

Harry just raised an eyebrow.

Keroberos rolled his eyes. "Fine, stupid suggestion. Hey, I know! You're a wizard! Just stun the thing or something."

"I'm underage, remember. I'm not allowed to do magic outside of school yet," Harry explained.

"Use the Sealing Wand," Keroberos said. "Clow designed it such that it wouldn't be detected by the Ministry, remember? Aside from Sealing, you can use it like a regular wand."

"Oh. Right," Harry's brow furrowed as he thought. "Well, I don't really know any stunning spells, but I think I have one that'll do the trick."

Carefully placing the cage on the ground and putting one foot on top of it, Harry pulled the Key out of his pocket.

"Key of power," he intoned, "show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it!

"RELEASE!"

Once more, a pattern had appeared under Harry's feet, a pattern of glowing lines of gold, showing a six-pointed sun within a circle and a crescent moon on one edge. The Key glowed, wisps of wind- or was it magic? - surrounding it, lengthening into what could properly be called a wand.

Catching the Sealing Wand as it floated in front of him, Harry twirled it around a couple of times for no particular reason other than it was fun.

"Are you going to do that every time you use the Key?" Keroberos inquired, a nearly non-existent eyebrow raised.

Harry smirked. "Maybe," he said, twirling it around some more. Doing so somehow… _felt_ right.

Keroberos shook his head. "Crazy kid," he muttered.

Harry smirked again, raised his Wand, then paused. "You know, now that I realize it, we don't have to stun him or anything after all."

Keroberos looked at the cage under Harry's foot. "You're right! Good thing I thought of it!"

Harry gave him a look. "_You_ thought of it!" he said. "Which of us is standing on the thing!"

Keroberos rolled his eyes again. "Just get on with it!"

Harry sighed in exasperation. This little pest was nothing like Ron and Hermione! They were never this annoying. Okay, maybe when they were in a snit and not talking to each other, but that happened a couple of times a year, so he was used to it.

"I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form!" Harry intoned, raising the Sealing Wand over his head and bringing it down. "Jump Card!"

Wisps of magic began to leak out of the cage under Harry's foot, drawn to the insubstantial card form under the Sealing Wand's head as the golden pattern appeared once more under his feet.

When everything had been drawn into the Card, and the Card was now as substantial as his other four, Harry plucked it out of thin air. The image on the Card was something that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo with wings. Underneath were the words 'The Jump'.

"And another one bites the dust," Harry said, smiling.

Keroberos chuckled. "Let's get going, oh great and noble Card Captor, before anyone sees us."

"Lead the way, oh wise and venerable Sun Guardian," Harry bantered back.

Keroberos and Harry laughed as the 'wise and venerable Sun Guardian' slipped back under the 'great and noble Card Captor's' jacket. Dismissing the Sealing Wand back into its Key form, they walking back out into Diagon Alley, leaving the little alleyway behind.

Behind them, there was only a slightly stepped-on little cardboard cage and the sound of the rapid scratching of a quill.

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"Well, that was easy," Harry said, entwining his fingers behind his head as he walked.

"You got lucky," Keroberos said. "If The Jump Card had gotten loose, there would have been heck to pay."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "'Heck to pay'?" he repeated, slightly amused.

"I don't swear," Keroberos said primly. "It wouldn't be becoming. Besides, I look like a kid's stuffed to for crying out loud!"

"Or something from a kids cartoon show," Harry said, then grinned. "Or even an anime!"

"Huh?" Keroberos asked.

Harry laughed. "It's this thing I used to watch before I became a wizard. My favorite was this show made by this group of ladies who called themselves CLAMP. The title was Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. It was about this couple named Syaoran and Sakura. Some kind of spell had turned Sakura's memories into magical feathers, which got scattered to other universes. To get it back, Syaoran makes a bargain with this witch named Yuko. The twist is, in exchange for giving them the capability to go after the feathers, Syaoran had to bargain away his relationship to Sakura. So even if he gets all the feathers back, she might still not love him."

By the end of Harry's recitation, Keroberos was crying. "That's so touching!" he bawled, albeit quietly so as not to attract attention. "We didn't have stories like that in my day."

"Yeah, I like it too," Harry said wistfully. "I don't get to watch it much anymore. It was the one thing Dudley and I agreed on. When he watched his DVD's, he gets so entranced that he doesn't notice I'm watching with him. And in recent years, some of it even came out on public television, so I was able to watch whenever the Dursleys left me at Mrs. Figg's."

"Television?" Keroberos asked.

"Muggle invention," Harry said.

"Oh."

Harry took a deep breath, let it out. "This Card Captor thing isn't so hard."

"Don't take the Cards so lightly," Keroberos admonished him. "There's a reason they were sealed after Clow Reed died. What if The Shadow Card had been allowed to run loose over the world?"

Harry shuddered, remembering the lifeless look on the faces of the people whose shadows The Shadow Card had stolen. "Point. But it couldn't be that bad."

"You want to risk it?" Keroberos countered.

"Guess not," Harry answered. "But it was so easy…"

"Don't get cocky," Keroberos reiterated. "And as for easy, it's not like we're going to be able to find Clow Cards around every corner."

They rounded a corner, and before their senses could tell the anything, there, in front of an apothecary, looking only slightly out of place among the wizards in the crowd, were three women, who seemed to glow strangely, that positively reeked of Clow Card.

"You were saying?" Harry said. Keroberos hung his head, sighing.

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Although made by the most powerful magician of his day, although possessing the power to drastically redesign the British isles, make plants grow at an absurd rate and cause flowers to appear, The Earthy, Wood and Flower were, at heart, women. And as women, what did they do when they found themselves loose on a major trading center?

Exactly.

They shopped.

As yet, they didn't have any money, so they hadn't been able to _buy_ anything, but like Harry, they also enjoyed window-shopping.

For the moment, they were standing in front of an apothecary, The Flower reminiscing over the potions she used to help their master brew, when around the corner came a being they hadn't felt in more than a hundred years.

The Earthy, who was closer to Keroberos, being one of the Cards under his command, felt him first. She didn't see him right away. All she saw was a young adolescent wearing a slightly oversized jacket, looking at them strangely. The boy approached them, and the sense of Master Keroberos grew stronger, leaving The Earthy to wonder if maybe Master Keroberos was the one who became humanoid, and Master Yue the one who became either a plush toy or a winged lion.

When Master Keroberos suddenly popped his head out of the boy's jacket, The Earthy was relieved, realizing she wasn't having memory problems. The Wood and The Flower, also noticing Keroberos, paused uncertainly.

"So this is where you girls were," Master Keroberos said, frowning disapprovingly. "I cannot for the life of me understand why you girls like to go off shopping. It's not like you can buy anything, and you certainly don't need clothes."

At this, the boy whose jacket Master Keroberos was in began to shift nervously, muttering about it not being a good idea to make a girl mad. He was right to be afraid.

The Earthy Card's eyes narrowed. Wood and Flower might be easy going, but she was one of the four elemental Cards, darn it! She had her pride.

And Keroberos definitely wasn't helping his case. "This boy with me is the Card Captor. He'll be our master from now on. So you better go with him quietly and don't cause any trouble."

Trouble. What a nice word. After all, master Clow wasn't here to get mad at her any more, so what did she have to be afraid of? Oh, Wood and Flower might happily go along with it, but really, the way Keroberos was acting, you'd think _he_ wasMaster Clow. It was really getting on The Earthy's nerves.

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Harry wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but he was no mental midget either. Common sense told him that, even though it had been relatively easy Capturing Clow Cards so far- unlike killing the Basilisk or getting to the Sorcerer's Stone-, it was probably not a good idea to get a Clow Card mad. And judging from her beautiful, albeit pale and slightly glowing, face, this Clow Card was getting mad.

As Harry 'felt' the spike of magic coming from the Clow sprite, he quickly decided he didn't want to have a firsthand look at what this Card could do.

Reaching down, he grabbed Keroberos by the mouth and stuffed him back inside his jacket.

"Sorry about him," Harry said glibly, thinking on his feet with a speed he usually reserved for Quidditch matches or the latter parts of the year when he had to deal with whatever was trying to kill him. "He's usually not allowed out in public. Not enough people skills. I'm Harry, by the way. Harry Potter."

The Card, who had looked about to do bloody murder, blinked as he extended his hand. Looking a bit confused, she shook it.

Harry observed her. She was tall, looking about as tall as the Windy Card- although he couldn't be sure, since he never saw The Windy's legs. Her clothes appeared to be made of silk, although crystal seemed to grow around her shoulders.

The other two Cards also shook his hand. One was all pink, with her hair in two big curls on either side of her head, and her dress gave the impression of a flower and flower petals. The other was completely green. She had so many leaves in her hair and dress, it was impossible to say where one left off and the other began. Both of the were also very beautiful.

Idly, Harry wondered if Clow had made all his female Card sprites this good looking.

"Tell you what," Harry said. "It's too nice a day for us to fight because of something Kero said. How about I take you ladies out to lunch instead?"

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For the first time in his life, Harry had invited three strange women- literally and figuratively- to have lunch with him. Surprisingly, he actually had a good time. The Clow Card were good company. The Flower was very cheerful, thanking Harry for being so nice to them and nearly fawning over him. The Wood wasn't nearly as forward, but the many appreciative looks she gave Harry in between her discourses on which plants are good for which potions spoke volumes. The Earthy, while dignified, never the less managed to express her gratitude and appreciation.

The only one who wasn't cheerful during lunch was Keroberos. After many reproachful looks and pouts, he agreed to eat under the tablecloth so that he wouldn't be seen. Harry could hear him muttering about 'ungrateful people' and 'Cards full of themselves' all through the meal.

No one else noticed.

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"Thank you for the meal, Harry," The Earthy Card said.

Much later, after lunch, Harry had taken the girls to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor. It was funny, watching three seemingly grown women behaving like children as they ate. Apparently, they had never tasted ice cream before and couldn't believe it was one of the few Muggle sweets that wizards had adopted. Keroberos' feelings had been mostly assuaged when Harry had slipped him a bowl.

Now they stood in yet another deserted alleyway.

"It's been years since we got a decent meal," The Earthy Card continued. "Thank you. It will be a pleasure to have you as our master."

With that, The Earthy Card leaned forward and kissed Harry on both cheeks. Harry blushed. Besides the time Hermione kissed him during first year, female lips have never made contact with his face before.

The Wood Card came forward as well, and planted a short, but lingering, kiss on Harry's lips. Harry's blush went up ten notches, making him look like he had a fever. He had distinctly felt The Wood's tongue slip briefly between his lips.

The Flower Card was next. Unlike her fellow Cards, she practically pounced on Harry, kissing him all over his face dozens of times and hitting his lips more than once. By the time she was done, Harry looked like a tomato.

He never felt more relieved to perform a Sealing in his life.

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Keroberos was still laughing at the shade of Harry's face as they walked down Diagon Alley. It had muted somewhat, but he was still a bright shade of pink.

"The look on your face was precious!" Keroberos chortled, trying to keep his laughter muffled as he hid once more under Harry's jacket.

"Oh, shut up!" Harry muttered, flicking his jacket irritably and bouncing Keroberos inside a little. This barely caused a break in the plush-toy-look-alike's snickering.

"The Cards must really like you, to kiss you like that," Keroberos continued, much to Harry's annoyance. "The only other person they were ever as affectionate to was Clow."

"Is that a good thing?" Harry asked dryly.

"Well, it means they trust you enough to be affectionate," Keroberos said. "And having The Card's trust is important if you want them to obey you."

"So it's a good thing?" said Harry.

"Yeah," Kero said. There was a pause. "So how much tongue did The Wood use?"

Harry went tomato red again, much the Keroberos' amusement.

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Close to the entrance to Diagon Alley, Harry and Keroberos stopped, both feeling the same thing. Looking to the left, they stared into the yawning mouth of yet another side-alley. It wasn't as brightly lit as the previous ones, and turned sharply a short way from the entrance. The slight whistle of the wind blowing through it gave the impression it went on for a long way.

"Not another one," Harry muttered, staring into the alley indecisively. "That's five in one day! I don't think I can take it anymore."

Keroberos jabbed him in the ribs, which didn't hurt very much. "Come on! It's your duty as the Card Captor to make sure that the Clow Cards don't cause trouble. Need I remind you whose fault it was they're loose?"

"Weren't _you_ the one sleeping on the job?" Harry said.

Keroberos pointedly ignored this remark.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Alright! Let's do this and call it a day!"

Looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching, which no one was, Harry entered the alley, summoning the Wand.

Giving it his usual couple of twirls, Harry relaxed. Whatever Card was down the alley, he was confident he could Capture it.

"This one better not kiss me," he muttered. Keroberos snickered at that.

They hadn't been walking long when a bright, narrow shard of what looked like metal flew past at high speed, narrowly missing Harry's head.

"What the-" Harry exclaimed. Up ahead, he could see a figure wearing what appeared to be a black bodysuit, white gloves and boots with long, star-burst-y fringes, similar white star-bursts around the shoulder, and what seemed like a jagged yellow streak on his forehead. He had ground-length, spiky white hair, pointy ears and a challenging expression in his eyes. The slight glow emanating from him screamed Clow Card.

"Kero…" Harry said.

"Be careful, Harry," Kero said. "That's The Shot Card, and he's extremely dangerous."

"What's so dangerous about him?" Harry asked, hefting his Wand.

"He shoots daggers of light that can cut through a lot of things, human flesh among them!"

"Oh…" Harry whispered in a small voice.

The Shot chose that moment to attack.

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Harry's Seeker training, combined with experiences against trolls, giant spiders, Basilisks and the occasional near-incarnation of Voldemort, combined together, gave him really good survival instincts and reflexes. Harry dodged to the side as The Shot Card sent a barrage of light daggers at him, feeling the adrenaline rush usually reserved for Quidditch games and impending death. This was certainly the latter.

Harry noticed belatedly that the alley they were in was totally bereft of cover. The Shot Card had an unimpeded view of him all they way.

He was a sitting duck.

"Think of something quick, Harry!" Kero said.

"I'm working on it!" Harry yelled back, dodging another barrage and realizing too late that he had just placed himself in the path of an oncoming dagger, with no room to maneuver.

"Harry!" Kero yelled.

Harry felt something grab the back of his shirt. He was suddenly lifted up and above the incoming dagger. Said dagger, however, managed to slice through Harry's sneakers. A small sliver of rubber fluttered to the ground.

"Wha-?" Harry managed to say, trying to look behind him.

"Don't move, Harry, I might drop you," Keroberos managed to say around a mouthful of cloth, sounding like he… well, like he had a mouthful of cloth.

"How...?" Harry said, temporarily forgetting the situation at hand.

"When you Captured The Earthy Card, I regained some of my power," Kero said. "At the least, I'm strong enough to carry you now."

A light bulb seemed to go on in Harry's head.

"Kero, get me to the ground, NOW!" Harry said.

Kero blinked, but complied, wondering what his young charge was up to now.

Meanwhile, Harry quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out the Cards he had. The minute he hit the ground, he tossed a Card in the air and raised his Wand.

"Earthy Card!" he said, bringing his Wand down. In a whirl of magic, The Earthy appeared in all her glory.

"I need a shield! Now!" Harry directed, as The Shot sent another barrage.

The daggers impacted harmlessly into the earthen shield The Earthy Card summoned in front of Harry.

Seizing the moment, Harry pointed at The Shot sprite. "Now use your power to bind him!"

At a gesture from The Earthy, narrow appendages shot out of the ground under The Shot's feet. The Shot jumped out of their way, taking to the air as the appendages tried vainly to catch him.

"They're not supple enough," Keroberos said. "You have to try something else!"

Harry nodded grimly as he took another Card out of his deck. "Earthy Card, return!"

The Earthy Card began to dissolve back into its Card, but not before floating in front of Harry and, with a mischievous smile, planting a kiss on each cheek.

Harry stood, frozen, as The Earthy Card returned to it's other state, another Card held limply in his hand.

"HARRY!" Kero said in exasperation, making a mental note to find this amusing later.

Harry shook his head, chiding himself. The middle of a life-or-death fight was no time to be blushing because a woman had kissed him.

Raising his Wand again, he called forth the Card in his hand. "Windy Card! Bind The Shot!"

The Windy Card's sprite appeared. Raising her arms, she extended yellow appendages of wind towards The Shot Card.

She succeeded where her fellow Card had failed. The wind appendages, being quicker and suppler than The Earthy's, managed to catch and overpower The Shot sprite, dragging him to the ground.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Harry said, casting the spell on The Shot sprite. The sprite was thrown back a few feet and lay there, stunned.

Harry raised the Sealing Wand once more over his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form!" Harry intoned. "SHOT CARD!"

As the last of The Shot Card was Sealed, Harry turned towards The Windy sprite. "Thanks for your help," he said. "You can go now."

The Windy sprite bowed as she began to return to her Card form, but before she was completely gone, she leaned towards Harry and, with a mischievous smile very much like The Earthy's, planted her lips on his and gave him a searing French kiss.

Harry stood frozen in the middle of the alley, mouth hanging open, as the last of the magic was drawn back into the Card and Kero started laughing his head off.

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Harry lay back on his bed in The Leaky Cauldron, still very much in shock, listening to Kero muttering in his sleep about ice cream. Returning to his room had been a blur to him, although he seemed to remember Tom, the innkeeper, asking him if he was all right and whether he had a fever.

Staring at the ceiling, it took a while for Harry to fall asleep, and when he did, his dream were full of The Earthy, The Wood, The Flower and The Windy kissing him in their different ways and trying to turn him into a tomato, an apple or a cherry, while Keroberos and The Shot ate ice cream in the background and laughed.

Outside, Big Ben tolled, marking the time, as the Card Captor smiled through his dreams, a blush staining his cheeks.

For a moment, a glow shone through the clock's four faces, then was gone.

No one noticed.

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: I know The Shot Card appears as a ball of light in the anime, but hey, this is my fic. As for the female Cards' naughtiness, well… –_lol_–

Harry's really racking up the Cards, isn't he? Don't worry, I'll be spreading them out more, but unlike CCS, I won't do it one card an episode if I can help it (Unfortunately, the next Card is planned as a single Carder –_sigh!_ –). That'll take too long and I'm afraid I'll lose interest if I drag this fic out, which I don't want to happen since there are a lot of scenes I _really_ want to write. I'm trying to think of card combinations that are really destructive together, kind of like the way the Rain and Wood Cards were in that episode (was that four or five?). Also, the sooner I can bring out Yue, the sooner I can have **_FUN!_**

Anyway, I have a theory that Clow Cards gravitate towards, or at least in the general direction, vicinity or area, of the Card Captor (or the Clow Book, or the Sealing Wand, or Keroberos, whatever) before activating, and they just happen to find their ideal spot afterwards (as in the case of The Erase Card and The Lock Card). That's why no matter where Sakura- and in this case, Harry- goes, Cards are sure to follow. However, it takes time for the cards to reach the CC's location, so that's why they don't pop up all the time (possible exceptions are when the CC is surrounded by large amounts of people; that's why Cards always pop up during Sakura's class outings and theme parks).

Also my own theory, The Mirror Card, when duplicating males, can probably make the copy female, as that is the Card's original gender (do the Cards even have gender?). After all, in the anime, Sakura is the only one The Mirror Card ever doubled as, so we don't know if it's any good at male duplications.

Inexplicably aggressive Clow Cards will appear, and the reasons for their aggression, like in the anime, will not be explained, unless I feel like it. If you want a reason, file it under 'testing the Card Captor's worth'.

Harry is an otaku at my discretion. This explains how he recovers quickly from magical surprises, like being a wizard and the Card Captor: he's been watching anime during his formative years (the Dursleys don't know), and stuff like this pops up all the time.

If I got anything wrong during the Tsubasa summary, and I probably did, anyone who wants to fix it can send me the info. Otherwise, let's say for continuity's sake Harry isn't a rabid, hyper obsessed otaku, just a run-off-the-mill fan, so he gets things a bit wrong.

Final note, I'm going to write this fic under the assumption that Clow Reed died around the late nineteenth century. After all, that was when communication between the East and West really got of the ground, albeit bumpily. And Keroberos did say that Clow was the best at both East and West magic

Western Magic: wand-sy type magic, like what Harry learns in school.

Eastern Magic: Magic using ofuda, ceremonies, omdyou/ paper magic, calling out attacks (you get the picture).

To **Ran Hoshino**: thanks for another nice review and for reading my story. It's my practice to dedicate a chapter to the first people who reviewed the previous one, so I dedicate Card 2, The Fly, to you. Thanks for the Syaoran info, it was really useful.

Anyone with suggestions as to what situations Harry and his rival can catch certain Cards will be appreciated and considered, I haven't got all the Cards assigned to a chapter yet.

Please review, C&C welcome. Heck, even flames are welcome. That means at least it's being read, if not liked.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	3. Harry's Never Ending Day

A/N: Last episode, Harry had to deal with Jump-y pseudo puffskeins, a date with three women, a crack Shot out to kill him, and naughty, kiss-y happy Clow Card girl-sprites! What does this day have in store for the Card Captor? Try a bed scene and 'multiple reruns'… -_snicker_-

Put your eyebrows back on people, it's not what you think…even if I _do_ lament ffnet's decision not to have m+ fics.

_ 'Tobira wo Akete' starts playing in the background_

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 3, The Shadow: Harry's Never Ending Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me. I do, however, have a medical condition the requires me to ingest large amounts of review and ideas. Got any of those you can spare?

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When Harry woke up, he was sweaty, breathing hard, flushed all over and wearing a ruined pair of underwear. It took him all of two seconds to remember why. When he did, the flush turned into a full body blush so bright, it would have made the sun jealous.

"Oh, bloody…" Harry muttered, recalling his dreams during the night. What had started in his dreams as a kissing contest between The Earthy, The Wood, The Flower and The Windy to turn him into some kind of bright red fruit or vegetable had rapidly degenerated into the most intense REM sleep he had ever had. The soiled state of his boxers were proof of it.

Thankful that Kero was still asleep, Harry snuck to the bathroom to wash up the mess. Leaving the mess to be laundered, he silently got dressed.

Taking the nine Clow Cards he had out of his jacket, he stared at them. He'd only been with them for two days, and already, he felt a bond with them, a connection. Although he turned brighter-than-cherry-red as he flipped through The Earthy, Wood, Flower and Windy Cards. What **is **it with those girls!

Looking at The Wood Card, Harry touched his lips in recollection.

"She stole my first kiss," he realized, speaking in a whisper, going even redder. It was a medical miracle he wasn't gushing blood from all facial pores.

Staring at them, he finally stuffed them in his jacket's inner pockets. The Jump, Dash, Shadow and Shot went into his right-side pocket, The Earthy, Wood, Flower, Windy, and after some hesitation, The Mirror, went into his left.

Kero woke up as he was putting the Key around his neck. "Morning, Kero."

Keroberos yawned, stretching in a way that reminded Harry of one of Mrs. Figg's cats. "Morning, Harry. So, how were your dreams?"

Kero's tone said it all.

Harry threw a pillow at him.

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After another breakfast served in their room, Harry and Keroberos headed out to Diagon Alley.

"So, what do we do today?" Kero asked. They were now well practiced in this, Kero hiding in Harry's jacket and whispering to Harry, and Harry answering back without being noticed.

"We're not doing _anything_ until we go to Quality Quidditch Supplies," Harry said.

"_Again! _Do you look at that broom every day! " the Sun Guardian moaned.

"Deal with it," Harry said.

----------------------------------------

"There, we've looked at the stupid broom," Kero said a while later. "Can we look for lunch now? Or maybe ice-cream?" he added hopefully.

"Harry! HARRY!"

Harry turned, surprised. Sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor, ironically at the same table he had sat at with the Cards yesterday, were Ron and Hermione, both looking like they'd been under a lot of sun, and both waving frantically at him. The sight of them, when they had been the furthest things from his mind, made the Card Captor break out into a smile.

"Hold that thought," he muttered to Kero as he made his way towards his friends. He ignored the Sun Guardian's depressed sigh.

"Finally," Ron said, grinning as Harry sat down. "We went to the Leaky Caldron, but they said you left..."

Ah, life was good.

----------------------------------------

It was a good day, all things considered, though that stupid crow had attacked Harry again when he had take Ron to the Magical Menagerie for Scabbers' Rat Tonic. He felt fairly sure the witch at the counter was wrong. Now that he knew how to look, and what to look for, he felt very clearly the magical energy coming from Scabbers, although that didn't tell him anything about what Scabbers could do. And while he didn't think Hermione buying Crookshanks was such a good idea, at least he wasn't that stupid crow. Seriously, WHAT DID THAT BIRD HAVE AGAINST HIM, ANYWAY!

And through out all this, Keroberos kept his silence. At the first opportunity, Harry had taken him back to their room, since it would have been suspicious if he kept his jacket on during dinner. After securing some food Kero, and a promise not to leave, he went down to eat with some of his most favorite people in the world.

Dinner that night was fun. Dinner with Hermione and the Weasleys was always fun, no matter where they ate. After dinner, however...

----------------------------------------

Harry lay back in bed, listening to the shouting in coming from Ron and Percy's room. So Sirius Black was after him. That sure explained a lot of things.

Listening to Kero's soft breathing as the little Sun Guardian slept on one of the pillows, Harry wondered why he wasn't more afraid a mass murderer was after him. Well, that was simple enough. After all, where he was going, there was Albus Dumbledore, and where Dumbledore was could be considered the safest place on earth. And anyway, he rationalized, Dumbledore had been absent from the premises during the Sorcerer's Stone thing, and during the fight with the Basilisk.

And- and at this, Harry's face formed a grim smile- Harry had a trump Card. Or more precisely, nine of them. He'd like to see how Black could kill him if he was bound by The Earthy, Wood or Windy Cards.

Nope, the biggest problem Harry would have to deal with would be how he'd be allowed to go to Hogsmeade. After all, it was probable that he'd be watched, and...

...and...

...wait.

Harry abruptly sat up, staring at the Clow book next to his bed. Hogsmeade _wasn't_ his most pressing problem. In all the excitement of the day, he'd nearly forgotten about the Clow Cards. He recalled something that Keroberos had told him that first night. Something about how while he was looking for the Clow Cards, the Cards would be looking for him. Did that mean that the Clow Cards would follow him to Hogwarts?

Uh oh.

He needed answers on that score.

Giving Keroberos a sideways glance, Harry briefly considered waking the little guy up, but dismissed the thought. After a day of hanging around inside Harry's jacket, it would unfair to wake him up just to ask a question.

On the other hand, Cards didn't need to sleep...

Turning on a lamp, Harry drew the curtains over the windows and stuffed the rug into the crack under the door. No need to let anyone know what he was going to do.

Opening the Clow Book, he debated whom to ask. The Shadow, Jump, and Dash didn't seem the talkative types. He didn't trust The Shot yet; after all, the guy had been trying to kill him last night. The Windy...?

Unbidden, the memory of two soft lips pressing hard against his own as a tongue was thrust into his mouth...

Shaking his head violently to dispel the image and thanking his lucky stars Kero wasn't awake to see his blush, Harry crossed The Earthy, Wood, Flower and Windy Cards off his list. So that left...

Prying out The Mirror Card out of the recess, he removed the key from around his neck.

"Key of power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it!" Harry recited. "RELEASE!"

Twirling the Sealing Wand the way he always did, Harry raised The Mirror Card. "Clow Card, show me your true power. Mirror Card!"

Harry remembered not to yell out as he brought down the Sealing Wand. The Mirror Card dissolved from it's Card form, becoming a giant mirror in front of Harry. The Mirror Card's sprite stood where his reflection was supposed to be. The sprite moved forward, passing through the mirror's surface the way one would pass through the surface of water. As she passed through the mirror's barrier, she became a perfect carbon copy of Harry.

Stepping forward, Mirror-Harry bowed down before him. "Master," it said. Even it's voice was perfect. Harry shuddered slightly, a bit creeped out, but nodded back.

"Mirror," he said, then indicated the bed. "You better sit down. This may take a while."

The Mirror-Harry glanced briefly at the bed. "If it will be long, master, may I have permission to alter my form slightly? So I could be a bit more comfortable."

Harry knew where this was going. "Sure," he said, sitting down on the head of the bed himself. He waited, trying not to fidget or let on how disturbed this was making him. Or how even more disturbed he would become. You'd think he'd be used to this by now, but no, every weird experience was always a surprise.

The Mirror-Harry rippled slightly, and then he changed into a she. There were no obvious differences, no big signs that pointed to the change. Her chest certainly didn't balloon out or her waist squeeze like an ant. Yet her face seemed softer now, filled with a delicacy Harry associated with females, or at least, the female Clow sprites. Her chest was slightly different too, but only because Harry was looking for it. He knew that if you took off her shirt- at this, Harry grabbed the thought, stomped on it with combat boots, locked it up in a chest, wrapped the chest with chains and dropped it in the ocean- there would be some minor but significant changes to the upper chest area.

Abruptly, Harry realized he was staring at The Mirrors chest and snapped out of it. Coughing to cover his slight, he waved at the foot of the bed. The Mirror Card sat down carefully, it's copy-perfect-yet-female face looking inquisitively at him.

Shaking his head again to get rid of the weird thoughts, Harry faced The Mirror. "Keroberos told me once that the other Clow Cards would be looking for me while I was looking for them. Does this mean they'll follow me to my school?"

Mirror-Harry-girl frowned, her face crinkling in thought, in exactly the same way Harry's did when he was thinking. "Possibly. Very likely, actually. Almost sure. We Cards are drawn to the Clow Book and the Key. It was a mechanism Master Clow Reed implanted in us in the event we should be separated from him. Clow Cards will always be drawn close to you. I wouldn't worry though. So far, they are spread all over London. It will be a few days before they reach you at Hogwarts."

Oh, bloody… Even her voice sounded like him, just a little lighter and throatier. Or was 'huskier' the word? 'Sexier'?

Wait… did she say Hogwarts?

"How did you know I went to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, surprised at this bit of information.

"Recognized the feel of this place," The Mirror said. "I remember England. And the only magic school in England was Hogwarts, unless things have changed a lot since I was last awake."

Harry shook his head. "No, they didn't."

The Mirror nodded. "I thought not. Master Clow Reed went to Hogwarts."

New nugget. "Really," said Harry. "What House was he in?"

"Gryffindor. Will you be needing me for anything else, master?"

Clow Reed was in Gryffindor? Whoa! "No, nothing else. You can go back now."

Still, The Mirror Card hesitated. Then, looking interested at the coverlet on the bed all of a sudden, she shyly asked, "Will it be alright if I stayed out tonight? It's been so long since I've spent any length of time in my sprite-form, it would be nice to do so again."

Harry blinked. "I guess it would be alright, although I don't know what you would do."

The Mirror Card looked even more interested in the coverlet, and Harry suddenly had the sneaking suspicion she was blushing. "Well, it would be nice to sleep… if that's alright with you."

"Uh, sure. You can sleep here if you want," Harry said, before he realized what he was saying.

Mirror-Harry-girl looked up at that. Yup, she was definitely blushing. "Are you sure I won't crowd you?"

Very disturbing to look at, a female him blushing demurely like that. "Nah, it'll be fine."

Wait-a-minute…DID HE JUST SAY THAT!

Mirror-Harry, however, clasped her hands in front of her in that 'I'm so happy!' way girls have. "Oh, thank you, Master Harry!"

Crossing over the distance between them, she gave the still-shell-shocked-by-his-own-answer Card Captor a big hug. Releasing him, she quickly settled under the covers, careful not to disturb Keroberos. Laying her head next to Harry's knee, she settled down and closed her eyes.

Harry sat in place for several minutes, still stunned and wondering what the heck was wrong with his mouth, the way it was saying things without telling him.

When he finally came out of his funk, he looked at the female doppelganger in his bed. Well, he _had_ allowed her to sleep here, and it would be pretty rude, not to mention mean, to kick her out now. And she _had_ thoughtfully left most of the bed available for him.

Sighing, he crept cautiously under the covers, careful not to wake up either The Mirror or Kero. Lying down, he turned on his side, his back to The Mirror, thoughts turning back to Sirius Black out to kill him. Unbidden, the big, black dog he had seen the night he left the Dursleys came to mind

"I'm _not_ going to be murdered," he said out loud, then promptly wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

"That's the spirit, dear," the mirror over the basin said sleepily.

Behind him, Mirror-Harry-et shifted slightly in her sleep, and the thought crossed Harry's mind the being a Card must be pretty boring if sleeping was more interesting. That thought was promptly chased out of the area when The Mirror shuffled a little bit closer in his direction. It wasn't a very big bed, but Harry was able to scoot a little bit away, almost dangerously close to the edge. He waited.

Nothing happened. Keroberos slept on. Mirror settled down. Harry was able to breath a sigh of relief.

Then Keroberos started to snore. Right in Harry's ear.

Instinctively, Harry turned over.

Right into The Mirror Card.

Harry froze as he found himself almost face to face with the girl. Their lips were mere centimeters from touching and he could feel her hot breath on his face. The tips of their noses weren't just close; they were almost touching the other's face.

The Mirror picked this _very_ bad time to shuffle around. Muttering in her sleep, she moved closer to Harry, burying her face in his shoulder and wrapping one arm around him. Her other hand found its way to his chest, where it lay squeezed between the two of them. Beneath the covers, her feet entwined around his, effectively immobilizing him.

Harry's heart started going at a speed to make his broom jealous. It thumped loudly, making him conscious of the hand on his chest, which made him conscious of the rest of her. Oh boy…

Softly, trying not to wake her, and most especially, _Keroberos_ up, he tried to extricate himself. It was no use, however. Every time he tried to pry away, she snuggled closer, and it was not a very large bed.

He stopped when her chest became dangerously close to his chest. The only thing keeping hers away from direct contact with his was her hand on his chest. Her hips felt a scant two inches from… Harry promptly took that thought, stomped on it, sent Hagrid after it, had it shot by a firing squad, locked it up in a chest, put the chest in a vault, placed it on a rocket and sent it to the sun. _Way _too dangerous territory.

As The Mirror Card's hot breath caressed his neck, sending his heart rate through the stratosphere, Harry concluded it was going to be a _long_ night…

----------------------------------------

As Big Ben tolled midnight, it's loud ringing echoing through the half-asleep city of London, for true cities never really sleep anymore, something strange began to happen. The hour hands of the four big clock faces began to turn backwards…

----------------------------------------

At the crack of dawn, Harry woke to sensations of warmth and weight. A warmth was constantly streaming down the back of his neck at regular intervals, while a large weight seemed to be evenly spread against most of the front part of his body. Kind of comfortable, actually, and very nice. He snuggled closer…

And froze instantly, eyes still shut, as the memories of last night uploaded itself from storage, immediately ringing warning bells and setting off those annoying hormone switches. Slowly, praying that his pillow had just gotten really warm during the night, he moved back as much as he could and opened his eyes.

A beautiful face- granted, seen from three inches away, there wasn't much _to_ see- lay in repose before him. Perfectly shaped eyes, rumpled black hair, a lightning bolt-shaped scar barely hidden by bangs.

A disturbingly perfect mirror image of himself.

Which became more disturbingly perfect when her eyes opened, and a pair of green eyes stared back at him.

Harry tensed as they made eye contact. For an endless moment, neither of them moved.

Then The Mirror-Harry-et smiled, such a radiant smile that Harry almost could not believe it could be done with his face, and snuggled closer. "Good morning, Master Harry. How did you sleep last night?"

Somehow, that wasn't one of the reactions he was expecting. When a member of his fantasy division tried to inform him it was on his list, he promptly fired the guy, had him kicked out of the brain, and blacklisted him so he could never be hired again (he later found work with the Weasley twins).

When he was done firing the fantasy guy, he promptly received the reminder from his secretary about the current situation.

It was then that Harry realized that he had his arms around Mirror.

Uh oh.

His reaction time dulled by the surrealism of the situation, Harry didn't act on that bit of information right away. Instead, he asked, "What happened last night?"

The Mirror shrugged, which did _very_ interesting things to her… everywhere. "We both went to sleep. I don't remember anything after that."

Then she grinned. "Although if _you_ did anything after I fell asleep, I wouldn't know."

Harry blushed, belatedly letting go and trying to extricate himself. The Mirror, however, snuggled closer, something Harry hadn't thought was possible. "Stay a minute. It's so nice and warm under here."

This caused Harry to blush even more. "Er, I really have to get ready to leave. We're going to school today, and I don't want to miss the train."

Mirror-Harry-et pouted. "Oh, alright. Well, I better get back in the Clow Book. Thanks for letting me sleep here, Master Harry."

To his surprise- which, in hindsight, he shouldn't have been- The Mirror Card pulled him closer and gave him a long, lingering kiss on the lips. She took her time with it, as if savoring him like a fine wine. Her soft lips pressed gently against his own, contrasting sharply with the way The Windy had done it. It reminded him of The Wood, actually.

Breaking the kiss, she seemed to inhale his scent, nibbling the side of his mouth and nuzzling his cheek, which had gone a spectacular shade of crimson. Her entire body was pressed against his, which had caused other _very_ interesting reactions.

"Farewell, Master Harry," she said. Giving him one last kiss, she reverted back into her Card form, leaving Harry lying on his side, completely flushed- among other things- and breathing hard. The Mirror Card lay innocently on the bed sheets, looking like nothing more than an innocuous peace of paper.

----------------------------------------

When Harry had unfrozen a little bit later, the first thing he did was thank his lucky stars he hadn't asked Tom to wake him up. _That _would have taken a lot of explaining.

Still, he wondered why no one had gone upstairs to check up on him. He and the others had all packed last night, but still, it wouldn't be a picnic getting all their trunks to King's Cross.

Getting out of bed, Harry took all of to steps before he paused. His stuff was spread out all over the room like it had been yesterday. His trunk was open, gaping emptily with only a few odds and ends left inside.

Harry distinctly remembered packing and locking it last night.

He immediately made the most logical conclusion.

"I'm going to _kill_ Fred and George for this," he practically growled, then froze as the implications started to sink in. If Fred and George had been in here to mess up his trunk, that would mean they saw him with…

Oh. BLEEP !

He was in so much trouble.

Shaking himself, he started prioritizing. Kill the twins now, worry about Mrs. Weasley's wrath about both issues later.

Walking past the room calendar, he reached for his wand beside his bed on the night table, intent on vengeance, and was about to leave the room when he did a double take.

The date on the calendar said Saturday.

Wasn't it supposed to be Sunday?

----------------------------------------

Deciding not to bother with little things like the date, Harry hurriedly got dressed and started tossing things back into his trunk. Sealing it shut with a loud bang- and incidentally waking up Keroberos- he decided the next order of business was payback.

Leaving a still drowsy but about to get cranky Kero, he headed out the door, wand in hand, Key around neck, revenge in mind. Heading down the hall, he had barely rounded the corner when Tom, the bar- and innkeeper, came up the stairs, carrying a tray of food.

"Morning mister Potter," Tom said. "Your breakfast is here."

"Thanks, Tom," Harry said, having forgotten he had arranged to have his breakfast delivered to his room. "Here, let me take that," he said, sticking his wand in his pocket and taking the tray. "Listen, do you know where Fred and George Weasley are?"

Tom shook his head. "Sorry mister Potter. No Weasleys yet today. Maybe they'll come by later, though."

Before Harry could ask any more questions, Tom turned around and headed downstairs.

----------------------------------------

Keroberos looked up in irritation as the door opened again and Harry came in carrying the tray, a confused look on his face.

"Good thing you brought breakfast," Kero said, flying over to the tray before Harry could put it down and snagging a piece of toast. "I had half a mind to get mad at you for waking me up so rudely."

Harry said nothing, deep in thought. Putting the tray down, Harry grabbed his own slice of toast and started chewing, watching as Kero ate with near-obscene enthusiasm.

"Kero," Harry said, finishing off his slice and spearing a piece of ham on his fork, "what day is it?"

"Sunday," the little Guardian said, mouth stuffed with food.

"You remember yesterday, right?" he pressed.

"Small lunch, no ice-cream, you spending all your time with those friends of yours," Kero listed in a hurt voice. "Kinda hard to forget."

"So I didn't dream it?" Harry said.

"NO!" Kero said, sounding annoyed at all the questions so early in the morning. "What's with all the questions anyway?"

"The calendar say it's Saturday," Harry said.

Kero paused in his eating. "Hm. That's weird. Magical time-keeping devices are seldom wrong. Almost never, actual."

"But it does happen?" Harry said.

"Yeah, sometimes," Kero said, reaching for more food.

"HEY! I NEED TO EAT TOO!"

----------------------------------------

"Got everything?" Kero asked Harry as he checked his trunk one last time.

"Yeah," Harry said, locking up his trunk. "Although I don't know why Tom said the Weasleys weren't here yet. Come to think of it, we should be able to hear them by now."

"Maybe they're sleeping in?" Kero suggested.

"If they are, they're cutting it pretty close," Harry said, tucking his cards into his jacket, managing not blush as he looked at The Mirror. Wouldn't **_that_** be a dead giveaway.

"Forget about it," Kero said, waving the subject away. "Look, why don't you go take one last look at that broom of yours, you know, to take your mind off this."

Harry shrugged. "Sure, why not? Maybe afterwards things'll make sense."

Kero smirked at that. Honestly, what was with this kid and broomsticks?

----------------------------------------

So things were back to Kero hiding under Harry's jacket.

Walking over to Quality Quidditch Supplies, Harry felt better when he saw the Firebolt. Finally, a constant he could navigate with.

"Feeling better?" Kero asked wryly.

"Uh huh!" Harry said cheerily.

Yup, nothing could shake him now. Absolutely nothing-

"Harry! HARRY!"

Harry turned and stared. Ron and Hermione were sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor, sitting at the same table Harry and the Clow Cards had sat at when they'd had dessert two days ago.

"Whoa," Harry said. "Deja vu."

"Finally!" Ron said with a grin. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they'd said you'd left..."

Oh-kay, Harry thought as he sat down. This is really getting weird...

----------------------------------------

Harry went through the day in a sort of automatic, robot trance mode. He sounded normal, acted normal, took Ron and Hermione to the Magical Menagerie as he had before, got attacked by that **_STUPID_** **_CROW_** **_AGAIN_**; in fact, did exactly what he had last time- yesterday?- but it was like watching someone else doing it. Someone else teased Hermione about taking so many subjects this year; someone else tried not to laugh shaking hands with Percy; someone else had dinner with the Weasleys and Hermione.

After someone else listened in on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking, and handed Ron's potion to him, however, it was **_DEFINITELY_** Harry Potter who freaked out in his room.

"WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TODAY! " Harry hissed, wanting desperately to scream and knowing fully well he shouldn't. "EITHER I'M HAVING A REALLY BAD CASE OF DEJA VU, OR SOMETHING **_REALLY_** MESSED UP IS GOING ON HERE!"

"Something really messed up is going on here," Keroberos said. "Time seems to have reversed itself."

"COME AGAIN! " Harry hissed at him.

"Time seems to have reversed itself," Kero repeated a bit impatiently. "It's the work of The Time Card."

"The Time Card?" Harry repeated in something close to his normal tone.

Kero nodded. "It has the power to control time."

"The power to **control time**! " Harry repeated.

Kero gave him a look. "You practicing to be an echo?"

"Why would he make a Card like that?" Harry asked.

"Because he could," Kero said simply.

"Right..." Harry drawled.

"You need to catch it, or else we'll be stuck in time forever!"

Harry raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

Another look. "Do you really want to keep repeating the same day for all eternity?"

"Point."

"We have to find it, ASAP," Kero said.

"Where do we even start looking?" Harry asked, trying not to think of the implications of a Card that could control time. Seriously, **_WHAT KIND OF MIND THINKS OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT! _**

Keroberos thought. "Well, it is fond of timekeeping devices. Maybe it's near one?"

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "This is London. There must be hundreds of thousands of clocks in the city. How are we supposed to know which one it's hiding in?"

At that moment, Big Ben tolled.

The two exchanged looks. "You don't think maybe…?"

Kero shrugged. "What else do we have to go on? Besides, if we're wrong, time will just repeat itself, and we can try again tomorrow. Doesn't matter if we have to check every timepiece in the city. We'll have time. The only problem is if we go insane from days repeating itself."

"Oh, goody," Harry said sarcastically.

----------------------------------------

After leaving The Mirror Card in his place in case anyone checked in on him- which me sincerely hoped no one would, since that would mean they had checked in on him last night and had seen him with her and, oh this was getting confusing- he and Kero crept downstairs in his Invisibility Cloak, careful to avoid bumping into anyone.

Creeping out the front door behind an exiting patron, they waited until they were a couple of blocks away before speaking.

"Whoa," said Harry. "I've never been out at night like this before."

"Careful," Kero said. "London was dangerous at night in our day. I don't think that would have changed."

"You think I should keep the Cloak on?"

"Definitely."

"So, which way to Big Ben?"

"Uh, let me check."

Kero slipped out of the Cloak, and flew straight up, becoming lost in the darkness and glare of the night sky. Strange, Harry thought, how the night wasn't really dark around here. Even in the late hours, the sky held a yellowish glow from the hundreds of streetlights bathing it.

A few minutes later, Kero came back down. He flew aimlessly for a few seconds until Harry, realizing Kero couldn't see him because of the Cloak, grabbed him as he passed by.

"Ouch," Kero said. "Watch your grip! I'm not a rag doll, you know!"

"Sorry," Harry said. "Which way?"

"Follow me."

Kero began to lead Harry. After fifteen minutes of walking, however, and still no Big Ben in sight, Harry began to get impatient. "Kero, how far away is it?"

Kero pointed. "Waaayyy in that direction."

Harry scowled. "There's got to be a quicker way to get there…"

Quicker, quicker… just like that, the proverbial light bulb went off in Harry's head.

----------------------------------------

No one saw the streak as it sped through the streets of London. You can't see what's invisible. Or in this case, wearing an Invisibility Cloak. If you were listening for it, however, for a split second, you'd be able to hear...

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Keroberos cried as he held on to Harry's jacket for dear life.

Harry ignored him. He ran, ran like the wind. Energy coursed through, begging to be used, and used it was. Once, he thought that the only thing that could give him this kind of rush was riding his broomstick. Now, he knew he was wrong.

So he ran, somehow keeping his Invisibility Cloak closed around him, following Kero's slightly panicky directions towards the clock tower.

----------------------------------------

"OH, SWEET GROUND!" Kero said, letting go of Harry and literally kissing the sidewalk. "I'M NEVER GOING TO LEAVE YOU AGAIN! NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN!"

Under the Cloak, Harry rolled his eyes. "Kero, you can fly."

"I'M NEVER EVER GOING TO LEAVE YOU AGAIN UNLESS IT"S UNDER MY OWN POWER AND NEVER AGAIN WITH THIS GUY!" Keroberos revised.

Harry smirked. "Come on, you. We've got a Card to Catch."

After getting Kero to stop hugging the ground, the two debated on their choices.

"If it's here, The Time Card will probably at the top, where the clock's mechanism's are," Kero said. "Just how we get there is your problem."

Harry gave him a look. "You're just full of useful suggestions, aren't you," he said sarcastically.

Kero shrugged.

Sighing, Harry pulled a Card out of his jacket. "Good thing I remember you telling me about this."

Kero looked at him warily out of the corner of his eye. "What are you thinking?"

Harry grinned. "Hang on," he said, pulling the Sealing Wand from where he had tucked it in his belt and raising it over his head.

Kero's eyes bugged as he saw which Card Harry was holding. "Oh no. Not again..."

----------------------------------------

A Jump Card later...

"OH, SWEET GROUND!" Kero said, letting go of Harry and kissing the floor. "I'M NEVER GOING TO LEAVE YOU AGAIN! NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN!"

Harry rolled his eyes as he closed the panel they had gone in through. "Didn't you do this already."

"SHUT UP!" Keroberos yelled at him.

Suddenly, the bell to toll. Harry and Kero put their hands over their ears.

"Midnight," Harry said, checking his watch, yelling to be heard.

"WHAT?" Kero said.

"I SAID- oh, forget it," Harry muttered.

Then he saw him.

He was sitting on a rail, wearing flowing robes. In his hands was an hourglass. He had a pointed nose, long, swept-back hair, and was glowing. His eyes stared at Harry expressionless and ageless, reminding him somehow of an older Dumbledore.

"Time Card," Harry whispered, his words lost in the ringing of the bell. He could tell this being was of time, even if he hadn't been positively been screaming _CLOW CARD!_

As Harry raised his Sealing Wand, the Invisibility Cloak falling off his shoulders as he did so, the bell tolled one final time, and then there was silence.

Harry opened his mouth, but no words came out. The Time Card seemed to moving farther away, as if he was moving back through a tunnel. He lost track of Keroberos as darkness swam before his eyes...

----------------------------------------

Harry jerked awake. Sunlight was streaming through the window of his room at the Leaky Cauldron. His trunk was open, his stuff spread out over the room.

Groping around his bedside table for his glasses, he hurriedly put it on. Across the room, the calendar said 'Saturday'.

"Kero," he said, shaking the little guardian awake. "Wake up!"

"Wha...?" Kero said eloquently.

"Kero, did all that really happen, or was I just dreaming?" Harry asked.

"Did all wha... Wha?" Kero said.

"The Time Card!" Harry said.

That snapped Keroberos out of whatever mental funk he was in. "Oh, right! The Time Card!"

"Finally!" Harry muttered.

"I guess The Time Card reversed time again when the clocks struck midnight," Kero said thoughtfully.

"Why?"

"That must be when he's at his most powerful. He expends all his power reversing the past twenty-four hours, and it takes him twenty-four hours to regain it."

"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted. "We're back to Saturday morning, aren't we?" Kero nodded. "So how come we remember all this? Technically, it hasn't happened yet."

"The fact I have Clow Reeds power protects me. I guess you're protected because you're the Card Captor. A bit of Clow's magic must interact with yours every time you use the Clow Cards. That must insulate you against some of the effects of The Time Card," Keroberos theorized.

"Well, that explains that," Harry muttered. "Well, now we know where The Time Card is, we should be able to go after it."

Kero nodded in agreement. "Preferably now, when it still doesn't have it's full power."

"Uh, that's a problem," Harry said. "I'm meeting Ron and Hermione later today, remember? I can't just disappear."

Kero frowned. "So what can we do?"

----------------------------------------

"Harry! HARRY!"

'Harry' turned, not at all surprised. Sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor were Ron and Hermione, both looking like they'd been under a lot of sun, and both waving frantically at 'him'. Smiling, 'he' went to join them.

"Finally," Ron said, grinning as 'Harry' sat down. "We went to the Leaky Caldron, but they said you left..."

The Mirror Card smiled along, trying to keep it's master's orders straight. Oh, the things one did for love!

----------------------------------------

"You sure it was a good idea to leave The Mirror Card alone like that? Kero asked Harry.

Harry nodded minutely. "She'll be okay," he whispered back. "Now why don't you just enjoy the view?"

"Kinda hard to do from inside a jacket," Kero retorted.

Harry smirked, taking his own advice as he watched London pass by the open-topped double-decker bus.

Harry had very little in the way of Muggle money, so first thing that morning, he'd gone to Gringotts to have a few of his Sickles turned into Euros. After which, he and Keroberos had snuck out of the Leaky Cauldron under the cover of the ever-useful Invisibility Cloak, and walked into Muggle London. He was in such a hurry to leave, he didn't even think about looking at the Firebolt.

After walking 'undercover' for a couple of blocks, far enough that wizards who were watching the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron- at least, Harry suspected there might be wizards watching for him- wouldn't spot them, they'd ditched the Cloak and hopped a bus. After that, they'd found a bus that could take them past Big Ben.

"Here's our stop," Harry said as the bus slowed down.

"Finally," Kero muttered as they got off the bus.

"Don't talk yet," muttered Harry. "We still have a little walk."

"Don't celebrate yet," retorted Kero. "We still have to find a way in. I don't think it's a good idea to use The Jump Card in broad daylight, even with the Cloak."

Harry smirked. "Coward."

Kero wanted to glare at him. "It was a stupid and dangerous stunt!"

"Oh, come on! You can fly, for crying out loud!"

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'Harry' lay back in bed, listening to the noise from Ron and Percy's room. Even though it had started out as a job the mast-no, _Master Harry_- had assigned her, today had been fun. It had been enjoyable, walking around Diagon Alley again, taking in the sights and sounds of life. It was an experience denied them in their Card form. Sure, they were peripherally aware of what was going on around them, but only as interpreted by their magical senses, as energies in this or that place. There was no vibrancy, no _feel_. There had only been awareness.

That was why she had asked Master Harry if she could sleep here that night. Even unconscious, she had _felt, heard_. She had _experienced_, as opposed to just being aware.

She'd grown fond of her new master in the short time she'd known him. He'd been accommodating, even indulgent, of her, her and her fellow Cards. Master Clow Reed, rest his soul, though she loved him too, though he created her and her siblings, would never have allowed them to kiss him as they had kissed Master Harry. Though he'd never hurt them, he had in his own gentle way been strict with them. He had allowed Flower to dance for him, but never to fawn over him. And whenever Earthy was in her one of her snits, Master Clow had always gently but firmly told her to snap out of it. He had never tried to appease her the way Master Harry had. Master Clow would never have let _her _sleep on his bed. And even if he had, he would have slept somewhere else. Clow had always thought of them as his children, and treated them as such.

Master Harry, however...

Master Harry was completely different from Master Clow. He _had_ allowed her to sleep on his bed, he _had_ allowed Flower to fawn all over him, and he _had _appeased Earthy instead of being firm with her. Instead of deciding he was a pushover and taking advantage of him, it actually made them like him more. He was... different.

It had been nice of him to let her sleep on his bed. And even nicer of him not to sleep somewhere else. That cuddle had been nice. She hadn't known about it right away, but she'd woken up in the middle of the night with his arms around her, so she had gladly reciprocated.

In short, he was nice, he was likeable, and he was their new Master. A new order had arrived.

The fact he was cute didn't hurt either.

The Mirror's reverie was interrupted when the door suddenly opened and closed. A second later, Master Harry had removed the Invisibility Cloak.

The Mirror Card jumped off the bed, unconsciously changing to female form as she did so. "Master Harry! Are you all right! "

Harry waved her away tiredly, but he didn't object when she helped him get to the bed. Sitting down, he gave a tired sigh, closing his eyes.

"What happened?" The Mirror asked worriedly. Harry didn't answer; he just sighed again.

A second later, Keroberos managed to fight his way out of the Invisibility Cloak. "He's fine," Kero told her. "Just a bit tired from fighting The Time Card."

Mirror winced. Time, though laid back, was by no means a pushover.

"Actually," Harry said, "it wasn't the fighting so much as the waiting that got to me."

"Sissy," Kero said smugly.

"Hey, YOU HANG BY YOUR KNEES ON A RAIL UPSIDE-DOWN FOR FOUR HOURS, LET'S SEE HOW _YOU_ LIKE IT!" Harry snapped.

"You wouldn't have had to if you hadn't attracted those guards," Kero retorted.

"ME! That was YOU, you little plushy!"

"I DIDN'T DO IT!"

"NEITHER DID I!"

"Then who did?" asked Mirror.

Both blinked and looked at her.

"Good question," Harry said.

Kero yawned. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow's definitely on it's way, so no sense waiting."

"I'll sleep in a minute," Harry said. "I need to talk to Mirror first."

Kero shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, curling up on a pillow. Almost immediately, he began to snore.

Mirror smiled. Master Keroberos never changed.

"So," Master Harry said, drawing her attention back to him, "how did the day go?"

"I did exactly as you said," Mirror replied. "I met your friends outside the Ice-Cream Parlor, took them to the Menagerie, avoided the crow, met the other Weasleys, had dinner, got your friend his tonic, and stayed here the rest of the night."

"Good," Harry said, nodding tiredly. "Did you have fun?"

Mirror nodded, clasping her hands in front of her happily. "Oh yes, Master Harry. It was wonderful!"

Harry smiled. "That's nice to hear. Well, you can go now."

Mirror suddenly became very interested in the coverlet. "Uh, Master Harry, I was wondering..."

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When Harry woke up the next day, the first thing he did, besides untangling himself from The Mirror, was to grab his glasses and look at the calendar.

It read 'Sunday'.

Harry sighed in relief, falling back to the bed and into The Mirror's sleepy but waiting arms. Later, he'd extricate himself completely. But for now, he was going to enjoy the fact it was a new day...

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Inside Big Ben's clock tower, a feather quill fluttered, forgotten, in the breeze...

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Sorry I skimped on the Sealing scene, but we all know how that's going to turn out. The Mirror Card introspect was as much a surprise to me as it is to you. It just grew organically.

I finally gave a more-or-less solid explanation for why Cards head for the general area of the Card Captor. If Big Ben doesn't seem that close, well, it's close enough for jazz. I know Harry isn't usually that quick on the uptake, but this is my version. Let's just say all his anime viewing has led to increased brain activity. Oh, his uptake wasn't that fast during the bed scene? Then that's canon Harry.

Side note, I'm going to give **_each_** female Clow Card a distinctive kiss. If I double use a kiss, inform me.

I'm supposing that the Hogwarts Express leaves on Sunday, since they always seem to start class on Monday. That means this whole fic happened on the same repeated Saturday.

I've also decided to see how long I can keep writing Ron and Hermione- and anyone else from HP canon, for that matter -_cough_Dmblr_cough_- from finding out about the Cards. After all, Sakura didn't tell her brother and father about her being the Card Captor, and she probably wouldn't have told Tomoyo if the girl hadn't had photographic proof Sakura had been flying around, so there's canon precedent for this kind of behavior.

Sorry if I skimped on how the day went, but it was basically canon with Kero hiding under Harry's jacket. From now on, if it's mostly canon, I won't write it. Too tedious, and you guys probably own a copy of the books. For those whose only experience with HP are the movies, I _Imperious_ Curse you to buy the books. Trust me, it's a good investment. Oh, and the chapter the canon stuff can be found in is Chapter Four, The Leaky Cauldron.

Final note, 'love' does not necessarily mean romantic love.

To **Voakands**: Thanks for the review! Don't worry; there will be more funny stuff. I can't write without putting in weird and demented things like that, so be suspicious if you don't find any. This chap is proof of that. XD If that happens, please inform I'm dead and some alien is pretending to be me.

To **Ran Hoshino**: Ah, my favorite reviewer. I'm thankful that CLAMP's brand of humor helped create a generation that'll appreciate the kissing scenes. And thanks for the comparison to said ladies. Really warms my heart. As for the contents of your last sentence, it wouldn't be a CCS derivative without it, but hey, the fun is in the journey, not the ending. The ending is to make us feel good and kill Voldemort!

To **kuraishi blackblade**: yeah, I hate finding only 'blank from blank goes to Hogwarts' stories too. Especially when there are so many good animes to cross HP with. Digidestined Harry, Gatekeeper Harry… okay, maybe not that many, but still, maybe all that's needed is inspiration. No, Syaoran will not show up, at least, not directly. Harry will probably make more Tsubasa references.

As my first three reviewers, I dedicate this Chap to you guys!

So, you all liked the kissing scenes, huh? -_snicker_- My, my, you guys are such… I can't think of something polite enough, but whatever the word is, apply it to me too! At first, I thought the kissing scene would make a good close to lunch, but now, with a little thought, I realize that the Clow sprite-girls haven't had 'any' in decades! And here's a young, relatively non-commanding guy they can take it out on! Expect _way _more! Like the one in this chap, for instance. I can diversify, I've read a lot of weird fics, enough to draw inspiration from (But by 'inspiration', I do not mean copying). Just not from the guy Cards, I find that slightly disturbing .

Soon to come: no Clow Card girl-sprite naughtiness planned -_sigh- _(but you never know oo). Harry fights the forces of darkness; and Ron and Hermione are still clueless! Watch this space! Although it might be a while, I have other projects and schoolwork I still have to work on.

Please review, C&C welcome. Heck, even flames are welcome. That means at least it's being read, if not liked.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

Trivia: Big Ben is actually the _bell_, and not the clock tower itself.


	4. Dementor's Darkness

A/N: Last episode had two bed scenes and three reruns. What does a simple train ride to school hold in store for our young hero? Check the title XD

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 4, The Watery: Dementor's Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Card Captor Sakura. If I did, Sirius wouldn't have died, Voldemort would be easier to kill, Sakura, Tomoyo, Meiling and Syaoran would be a foursome, Touya and Yukito would both have steady girlfriends and I wouldn't have to write on ffnet. Both series are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me. Although if you want to send some anyway, be my guest!

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When Harry found it in him to get up and tell Mirror to get back in the book- she complied, but not before giving him another one of her patented kisses- the sounds of activity could be heard though the door. This was soon followed by a knock.

Opening the door, Harry was greeted by Tom's usual toothless grin. "Your breakfast, mister Potter," he said, holding a tray with some tea and a little toast.

Harry managed a smile. "Thanks Tom," he said, accepting the tray gratefully.

Closing the door, Harry was amused to see that Kero had woken up at the mention of breakfast.

"Ooh, breakfast," the little Guardian said, snagging a slice of toast.

"Stay hidden, Ron or Hermione might come in," Harry said, getting dressed and trying to eat at the same time.

"Why are you trying to stick your leg down that sleeve?" Kero asked.

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Harry was trying to persuade Hedwig to get back in her cage when Ron banged his way into the room, pulling a sweatshirt over his head. Keroberos 'eeped'- quietly- and quickly dove under a pillow.

"The sooner we get to the train, the better," Ron said. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accused me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know,' he grimaced, "his _girlfriend_. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose had gone all blotchy…"

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry said, but was interrupted when Fred and George came in to congratulate Ron on infuriating Percy again.

The three headed down to breakfast. Harry excused himself by saying he had lost something and would be down momentarily.

"You can come out now, Kero," he said, lifting the pillow.

"Man, that was close," the plushy-like creature said.

"You better stay here," Harry said, pushing the breakfast tray towards him. "Here, you can have my share of breakfast, I'll eat downstairs. Keep yourself hidden, okay?"

With that, the last Potter followed after the three Weasleys, leaving Kero and Hedwig alone in the room.

"So," Kero said after a while, "have you known Harry long?"

Hedwig just hooted.

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Harry was barely able to keep Keroberos hidden during the chaos of leaving. They had resorted to their old 'under the jacket' routine, but that was still difficult. Harry and Keroberos had the sneaking suspicion that Crookshanks could smell them, not that that was anything to worry about, but it still made them nervous.

Harry was thankful they managed to get a window seat in the Ministry car, since that meant he had a side were Kero could hide without having to worry about Ron, Hermione and Percy feeling Kero's movements. Although he more than once had to threaten- silently, of course- to squeeze Kero when he wouldn't stop asking "Are we there yet?". It got a bit tense when they arrived at Kings Cross and Harry had to unload his trunk and put it on a trolley, since Kero suddenly became in danger of being squashed by said luggage when Harry was with wrestling it, but it turns out Kero was stronger than he looked. He actually helped Harry get the thing in place!

When they crossed through the barrier in platform nine and three-quarters, Harry and Kero relaxed a bit. The platform was so packed, no one would notice the odd-feeling bump under his jacket. Still, if anybody had bumped into said bump, Kero would have been in for a world of hurt.

After he and Ginny had gotten a good laugh over Percy making a fool of himself because of his girlfriend- _Really! _Harry thought, _she wasn't much to look at. The Mirror impersonating me would be cuter_- after which he promptly gagged, realizing what he was thinking- and Hermione and the other Weasleys had shown up, they'd gone to a nearly empty carriage of the train and stowed their stuff.

As the others went back outside to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Harry stayed behind for a moment, hastily letting Kero out from under his jacket.

"Finally! Air!" Kero exclaimed- quietly- fanning himself and wheezing as if he couldn't breath.

Harry rolled his eyes and gently flicked him upside the head.

"OW!" Kero said as Hedwig hooted in amusement. "What was that for?"

"That," Harry said, "was an award for your atrocious acting. Listen, hide here on the way to Hogwarts, okay? When we get to the school, get in my trunk- you _can_ open it, right?- and stay there 'til it gets in my dormitory, got it?"

Without waiting for and answer, Harry headed out after the Weasleys, leaving Kero, Hedwig and Crookshanks very much alone.

"Is he always like that?" he asked Hedwig.

The snow owl hooted, and Kero nodded as if he understood. He gave the cat in the wicker basket a sidelong glance.

"How about we keep me secret, waddaya say?" he asked in his most winning voice.

Crookshanks gave him what could have been a feline dirty look and hissed.

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Harry barely made the goodbyes, getting there when Mrs. Weasley had finished kissing her children goodbye and was working on Hermione. When his turn came, Harry wasn't the least bit embarrassed. The Cards had done worse to him during the past four days- man, had it only been that long?- so he was suitably desensitized. Really, after being gang kissed by three women, one of which had stuck her tongue between his lips and at the same time had stolen his first kiss, been frenched by a _way_ older but still hot woman/Clow Card, had slept with and woken up to a hot female duplicate of himself who had also thoroughly kissed him- twice!- a little peck on the cheek wasn't something to react to. He was, however, quite pleased when Mrs. Weasley gave him an extra hug. That, the Cards had never done, not even Mirror, who had liked to snuggle- Harry grabbed that thought and threw it off the brain- and it gave him a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

It didn't last that long, the real world- or reality, at least, since we're talking about wizards here- quickly making its presence known.

"Harry," Mr. Weasley said quietly as Mrs. Weasley was distributing out sandwiches, "come over here a moment."

Harry followed him behind a pillar, wondering what this was about, wracking his brain as he went. He was fairly sure he hadn't done anything to need a talking to with the Weasley patriarch, although with Fred and George around, he could have been framed.

"There's something I've got to tell you before you leave-" said Mr. Weasley, just as one of the guys in Harry's archival research staff came running in with a memo from three days ago.

"It's alright, Mr. Weasley," said Harry, quickly recalling what he had been thinking about the first night before someone hit the rewind button. Some part of him found it slightly disturbing he'd forget that someone had broken out of jail to kill him. "I already know."

"You know? How could you know?"

"I- er- I heard you and Mrs. Weasley talking last night," Harry said, stumbling over the time frame, quickly adding, "I couldn't help overhearing. Sorry-"

"That's not the way I'd have chosen for you to find out," Mr. Weasley said, looking anxious.

"No- honestly, it's OK. This way, you haven't broken your word to Fudge and I know what's going on."

"Harry, you must be very scared-"

"I'm not," Harry said sincerely, thinking "_I have the Clow Cards on my side! I'd like to see him try something against The Wood, The Earthy, The Windy and The Shot!_". "_Really._ I'm not trying to be a hero," although I always seem to get cast in that role, Harry thought, "but seriously, Sirius Black can't be worse than Voldemort can he?"

Standard V-name flinch.

"Harry, I knew you were, well, made of stronger stuff than Fudge seems to think, and I'm obviously pleased you're not scared, but-"

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley called out. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to go!"

"He's coming, Molly!" Mr. Weasley answered, turning back to Harry. "Listen, I want you to give your word-"

"- that I'll be a good boy and stay in the castle?" Harry guessed, sounding gloomy.

"Not entirely," said Mr. Weasley. "Harry, swear to me you won't go _looking_ for Black."

Oh-kay, that wasn't what he was expecting. "What?"

"Promise me, Harry," Mr. Weasley said, "that whatever happens-"

"Why would I go looking for someone who wants to kill me?" Harry said, bewildered. Sure looking for someone out to kill students, he could understand, but looking for someone who wanted to kill _him_, personally? Even with the Clow Cards, he was going to temp fate.

"Swear to me that whatever you might hear-"

"Arthur, quickly!" cried Mrs. Weasley.

Harry broke into a run as the train started to move, aiming for the compartment door Ron had opened. He ran Mr. Weasleys words in his head as he got on. Why the heck would he want to look for someone out to kill him? Brave to the point of stupidity, he might be, but he was in no way suicidal!

"I need to talk to you in private," he muttered to Ron and Hermione. Old habits die hard, and friendships die harder.

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Knowing Kero was hidden somewhere close by, with easy access to his trunk just in case, Harry didn't worry about the little plushy-guardian as he and his friends- other friends, he found himself correcting, thinking of the Cards in his inner jacket pockets- sat down in a compartment with the unconscious Professor Lupin and told them about Mr. And Mrs. Weasleys argument and about Mr. Weasleys warning and strange request.

They took it even worse than he expected, although their angst-ing was interrupted by Harry's Sneakoscope. The dreary momentum broken, they switched to the topic of Hogsmeade. They went slightly dreary again when Harry's lack of a permission slip came out, but that was broken when Crookshanks attacked Scabbers.

After lunch, as the clouds outside the windows thickened and grew darker, Malfoy and his goons came over but, unwilling to pick a fight in front of a professor, soon departed.

Much later, as the rain thickened and the windows got so dark that lamps flickered on, and Harry was thinking of Keroberos, wondering where the little guy was and hoping he wasn't discovered- with a jolt, Harry realized Kero didn't have anything to eat; boy was _he_ gonna get it- when he felt something strange on the fringes of his newly developed magic sense. Frowning, he looked out the window, the feeling coming closer.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron as he too looked out the window past Lupin. Not that there was anything _to_ see. It was completely black.

The words were hardly out of his mouth when the train suddenly slowed down and stopped.

Harry had a bad feeling about this. He could feel whatever it was just outside, realizing he wasn't feeling just one, but multiple somethings.

What the heck was going on?

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Somewhere on the train, Keroberos cursed fluently in three different Asian languages, nine different dialects, ancient Greek and perfect Latin in invective mode. It was past noon and he still hadn't eaten anything! Granted, while keeping watch over the Clow Book he hadn't eaten either, but now that he was material, he had a lot of catching up to do! When he found Harry, the kid was going to _PAY!_

He was still muttering curses- both magical and verbal- under his breath, this time in Mongolian, when he felt their presence. His blood ran cold as fear and hatred gripped his heart. He knew that feeling anywhere!

A growl escaped his lips as he felt them getting closer. If only he could change into his cool form…

With a sickening feeling in his heart- or maybe his stomach; he hadn't eaten yet, after all- the train slowed, then stopped. He could hear the passengers, sounding confused, over the background noise of the wind and rain. More importantly, he could fell _them_, just outside the train.

Drawing what little magic he had around himself, Keroberos tried to make himself undetectable, even as he shook in barely suppressed rage and fury, wanting nothing more than to take action. Clow had hated these things, one of a very short list of things his late master, may he rest in peace, couldn't or wouldn't abide by or tolerate.

Without warning, all the lamps went out.

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"What's going on?" said Ron from behind Harry, even as Harry felt the _things_ coming closer. Something seemed to grip his heart, and he knew instinctively that what he felt was evil…

"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"

Harry felt his way back to his seat, one hand going to the Key under his shirt, feeling its reassuring weight. He could feel his wand in his pocket, and the Clow Cards under his jacket. With these, he was fairly sure he could handle nearly anything out there, short of Voldemort himself.

The Cards felt warm against him. Funny, how he never noticed that before. It was almost as if they were alive…

"D'you think we've broken down?" he asked.

"Dunno…"

There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw Ron's outline wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.

"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard…"

_Not people_, Harry wanted to say. _Monsters! Evil incarnate!_ Why did it feel so cold…?

The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs, breaking his train of thought.

"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry-"

"Hello, Neville," Harry said, feeling in the dark and following his 'sense', pulling Neville up by his cloak.

"Harry! Is that you? What's happening?"

_Evil! Something wicked this way comes!_ He could feel them. They were already on the train! The feeling of cold returned to Harry. So many! So dark…

"No idea! Sit down-"

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," Hermione's voice said as Neville tried to sit on Crookshanks, with pained results.

_No! They're out there! _Harry wanted to yell as he felt her pass in more ways then one. As the door slid open, he dimly realized that he seemed to be able to 'feel' the people in the room, feel their magic, close, yet so different from the Clow Cards and the 'feel' of spells cast. Why had he never noticed before…?

There was a thud and two pained squeals.

"Who's that?"

"Who's _that_?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come and sit down-"

"Not here!" Harry said hurriedly, having had more than enough female contact that week. "I'm here!"

"Ouch!" said Neville.

"Quiet!" a hoarse voice said suddenly.

Harry vaguely made the connection that Professor Lupin seemed to have woken up at last. His mind wasn't there, however. _It_ was close! _It_ was coming down the corridor, a void of darkness, seeming to suck something out of the air itself, leaving a sense of nothingness in its path. Harry could _feel_ it.

There was a soft, crackling sound, a momentary 'feel' and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin seemed to be holding a handful of flames. Dimly, Harry wondered if _he_ could do that.

"Stay where you are," Professor Lupin said, slowly getting to his feet and heading for the door.

_NOOO!_ Harry thought as he felt the nothingness beyond.

The door slid open before Lupin could reach it. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. For an instant, Harry was reminded of The Shadow Card.

He tried to focus, but the sense of nothingness grew from the creature. As though through a long, dark tunnel, Harry saw a hand protruding from the cloak, glistening and grayish, slimy and scabbed, like a corpses'…

In slow motion, the hand withdrew into the folds of the cloak.

It was getting darker, Harry noticed. He could barely see at all. Lupin's flames were only a slight flickering amidst a black haze…

Then Harry heard, as if from a great distance, a long, slow, rattling breath being drawn…

And intense cold, colder than what he had felt a while ago, swept through Harry, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. The sense of nothingness surrounded him, worse than the cold. Harry lost sight of Lupin's flames as the darkness stole over his vision completely. There was a rushing in his ears and he felt like he was being dragged down, down into darkness…

Somewhere, far, far away, he heard someone screaming…

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Keroberos kept himself from growling. A hundred years ago, these _things_ were destroyed on sight. Now they seemed to be roaming where they pleased, if this was any indicator. The Ministry had completely lost it! These things couldn't be trusted, they had no respect for life, no concept of decency…

Abruptly, his head jerked up, staring through a wall.

_NO!_ he thought. _Harry!_

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Harry stood in the midst of a dark void. There was only darkness and nothingness as far as the eye could see. There was nothing to distinguish ground from horizon, or anything else, for that matter.

"Where am I?" Harry said, more to hear himself speak than any hope someone would answer.

The sound seemed muffled, as if it were absorbed by something the minute it left his mouth. It was cold, Harry realized, a chilling cold that had nothing to do with temperature, a cold that made his heart clench. He reached for his wand.

"_Lumos!_" he said.

Nothing happened.

Harry stared at his wand for a moment before giving it a wave. "_Lumos!_" he repeated. "_LUMOS!_"

Still nothing.

Harry stared. This was serious. His wand had never _not_ reacted to him before. It had always worked, ever since he'd properly learned to cast his first spell. Futilely, he tried again and again, but the light spell was useless. So he tried other spells; no go either.

MAN, it was cold!

Desperately, he pulled out the Key.

"Key of power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"

He nearly shouted for joy when the Key changed into the Sealing Wand. Grabbing The Shot Card from under his robes- nothing to shoot, but maybe he could light the way for him- he flicked the Card in the air and raised the Sealing Wand. "Clow Card, show me your true power. Shot Card!"

Nothing happened. The Clow Card drifted down to his feet.

Harry was stunned. _That_ had **never** happened before. He had seen spells not work- although he'd always wondered that if the spell Fred and George had told Ron would turn Scabbers yellow had been real. But the Clow Cards had always responded to him. Harry became officially scared.

Abruptly, he became aware of screaming. It was faint, barely there, yet it echoed, as his own voice had not. The screaming had a surreal, haunting quality, one his own voice didn't. Out of options, he headed towards it.

The screams echoed through the darkness, low at first, but getting higher and clearer as he moved. With every step, the cold that gripped his chest seemed to grow tighter.

Suddenly, the darkness in front of him seemed to open up. A small hole in mid-air appeared in the black haze, a window to somewhere. The screaming grew louder. The surreal quality to it had increased, and Harry was reminded of the time Dudley had broken his stereo, so that when he played it, the tape became jammed and repeated the same stretch of sound over and over (he blamed Harry, of course).

Having nowhere else to go, Harry strode towards it.

Then the cold came, harder, stronger than before. Its grip on his heart tightened, and spread, moving outward through his chest, seeping out to his limbs. His hands began to shake, followed by his knees. Within seconds, he was shaking all over, completely paralyzed by the cold.

Harry gasped as he fell to his knees in the darkness, the screaming echoing around him as he felt _something_ being drained from him. Futilely, he tried to grab it, but there was nothing o grasp. All that was left was an emptiness in his chest, where the cold began to seep in and make itself at home.

The screaming changed, became less surreal, became louder, closer, more human. Emptily, Harry raised his head. The opening had gotten closer, bigger, had moved right in front of him. Blearily, the Card Captor tried to focus on what he saw.

As that had been some kind of signal, the opening filled his vision...

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Before him, as if through a white fog, Harry saw a room. The wallpaper was light and cheery, the curtains blue and frilly. It was dark outside the window, though infinitely brighter than the void he found himself in, but obviously night. In the room was a cradle. A baby slept there, short black hair a untidy mess on his head.

A feeling other than the cold crept through Harry, a sense of recognition. Somehow, he felt he _knew_ this child...

The door to the room opened, and a woman swept in. She wore a flowered dress, and had thick, dark red hair. Harry gasped at her eyes. His eyes...

"Mom..." he said, but no sound came out of his mouth.

She moved to check on the baby in the cradle, and with a start, Harry realized that baby was him. Ignoring the surreality of the situation- he'd been in worse, the past three days being good examples- Harry focused on his mother. He drank her in, absorbing every detail. The only pictures he had of his mother was an album Hagrid had given him, a few times in the Mirror of Erised. So he looked at her, memorized everything he could see, even through the fog, and the cold in his chest melted slightly.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the door. Harry's mom looked up, startled.

The door opened, slamming into the wall and bouncing slightly. A man rushed in, obviously panicked. He had unruly dark hair, and looked exactly like...

Harry's gaze flickered to the boy in the cradle.

"Dad..." he whispered.

James Potter slammed the door behind him, rushing to his wife. As he did, the white fog grew slightly thicker, so that Harry's view was obscured. Still, he could hear very clearly.

_"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! I'll hold him off-"_

A man's voice- his father's voice, Harry realized. He was shouting, obviously panicked. _Who was it?_ Harry wondered.

In his mind, he heard Hagrid's voice. _"He turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'- an'-"_

The baby in the cradle didn't look two.

_No..._ Harry thought, ice gripping his heart anew. _No!_

James Potter was about to stumble from the room as his wife made to reach down to her child, when the door burst open. There was a cackle of high-pitched laughter as, through the swirling fog, a man entered the room, and Harry saw a face that he had last seen on he back of someone's head. There had been nothing funny about it then, and there was nothing funny about it now.

It was the face of Lord Voldemort.

_NO!_

The fog grew thicker as Harry saw his father draw his wand, but before a spell could be cast, Voldemort let loose his own.

_"Avada Kedavra."_

A green bolt of magic struck the elder male Potter in the chest and he fell to the ground, his eyes staring sightlessly up into the ceiling, his wand cradled in his limp hand.

The pure cold held Harry's heart tighter in its grip, choking his breath, like a glacier in his chest._ No, no, no... _he repeated like a litany, trying to will what he saw to stop happening, yet knowing it was futile.

More fog blew in front of his vision, so he could only see bits and pieces, but he could hear just fine.

"_Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"_

"_Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…"_

"_Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-"_

Harry couldn't turn away. His mother was screaming. He caught one last look of her before there was another cry of _"Avada Kedavra!"_

The last thing he saw, before the fog mercifully closed in, was Voldemort's face, standing over his cradle, before the fog obscured it completely. He turned away, shaking completely, tears stinging in his eyes, the cold completely overwhelming him as his mother's final screams echoed in his ears, echoed in the darkness around him…

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**- To be continued...(don't ya just hate me:p)**

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A/N: a few minor changes to canon. Harry doesn't bring up Sirius Black to Ron right away because he, chronologically, heard about it three days ago, and has since been preoccupied with The Time Card. So Mr. Weasley had to remind him. Their talk is taken from book three, even though the way it was said in the movie sounds a bit nicer. I didn't feel right about skimping this.

No Malfoy. MAN, I HATE THAT GUY! For those who hate him, he will be bashed. For his fan girls and boys, I suggest you stop reading, as I intend to do horrible things to him.

This is shorter than I like, but necessarily so. Still, it feels too much like filler for my tastes. I promise never to do something this short ever again. At least, I'll try. Wouldn't swear an Unbreakable Vow on it, though.

OUCH! AAAAHHHHH! -_more cries of pain as he is Crucioed_- I deserved that. Seriously, I don't like hurting Harry either- except when he's being so wussy and clueless about girls, which makes me want to scream- but my muse, and the Grand Scheme Of Things- read, my outline- has decreed otherwise.

In case you haven't read it yet, please read my Card Captor Harry prequel(?)/spun-off-from fic, 'Harry Potter and the Magic Book: Release!'. Please note it was written before I read book six, so it's a bit off. And I know I said this already, but another round of thanks to Ran Hoshino-san for encouraging me it his review to write a complete HP/CCS crossover/fusion/prequel, the result being the fic you are currently reading.

To **HarbringerLady**: thanks for the review! Always nice to get one from a reader. You put me on your alert? Awww...

To **Ran Hoshino**: hey Ran-san! Hope you don't mind if I call you that. Makes my day, getting a review from my longest reader. About the Tomoyo replacement, you should have made the suggestion earlier. I already have someone drafted for that role. Still, feel free to send suggestions. Uh, what kind of test did Eriol give Sakura? All I have are rather hazy memories and an episode summary that isn't very useful.

To **Dumbledork**: thanks for the review and for the info about the currency. A bit late for me, but I'm sure I can use it later. Uh, I really don't know much about classic magical girls, unless you count Sailor Moon. And I really don't have time for new projects. Maybe after Voldemort dies XD.

I hereby dedicate this chapter to you guys!

To **Voakands**: sorry, you're a bit late to get dedicated. Still, thanks for the review! More weird and demented stuff on the way, although I hope you pardon the occasional seriousness. : )

To **Warbl65**(did I spell that right?)thanks for the review! Hope you can stay longer next time!

If this chapter feels short, just click that little arrow down there that's pointing to the right.

Please review, C&C welcome. No, not Cards & Capturing, although that would be nice too. Dibs on The Hope Card!

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

Uh, just to sound off, has anyone done a Harry Potter/Books of Magic crossover? I got to thinking because Harry Potter and Timothy Hunter look a _lot _alike. Not that I plan to any time soon, I intend to write CCH until the end of Seventh Year, Hogwarts, which will take a while, but if anyone's done it, I want to know so I can read it.


	5. Heart's Light

A/N: And we're back! AHHH!

–_dodges rotten fruits and vegetables, Crucios, Sectumsempras killing curses, shuriken, kunai and kitchen sinks_-

Okay, I deserved that for what I did to Harry and you guys, but it's no worse than what Rowling does with her yearlong waits and killing off beloved characters.

-_dodges another wave at the insult against the goddess_-

JUST READ ALREADY! OUCH! That hurt! Good thing I have a Horcrux.

-_Harry shows up, bouncing a Palm Pilot in his hand_- "You mean this?"

Uh oh…

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 5, The Wood: Heart's Light

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I would like a complete set of their works in manga and anime form, though. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me. POTTER, LEAVE MY HORCRUX ALONE!

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Harry lay on the ground, shaking convulsively. He felt numb, frozen, as if his insides had turned to ice. A single scream echoed in his ears, repeating itself eternally, even as he heard his father dying, his mother being slain by Voldemort. Other memories- for he realized that's what they were- passed before his eyes. The time Hermione had been Petrified, and lain in the hospital wing for days. His encounter with Quirell in the bowels of the castle. The time he had lost Gryffindor a hundred fifty points for being out of bounds and no one had talked to him. The time the Dursleys had locked him in the house alone during a thunderstorm and the power went out. The time when Dudley had killed a squirrel he was going to try to nurse back to health. The time the Dursleys had locked him up in his room the year before, and he had thought he would never see Hogwarts again.

Memory after memory, pain after pain swept over him. And all through out this, his mother's scream rang, over and over again.

For the first time in his life, Harry wished for death.

He was fairly sure that there wasn't much difference between death and his current condition. He was unbearably cold, his body was stiff, his mind was going blank. The only difference between the two was that death would bring peace; this was pure torture.

Harry let himself lie on the ground, the cold seeping into and out of every pore, his eyes closed in a futile attempt to hold back the visions. It had worked in the beginning. Not anymore.

He was so tired from all of it. He just wanted it to stop, wanted it to end. Every time he watched Voldemort kill his parents was torture; each time, the bittersweet pleasure of seeing them, even if just in a memory, was always quickly followed by the agony of seeing them die again. Each time he had to watch, he died a little more inside.

Wearily, he lay his head on the cold, dark black floor. Just a little longer, he was sure, and he would die. The Clow Cards were warm against his chest, somehow making him feel guilty for waiting. Still, there was no way they could understand, no way they could help. He had already tried calling them and they had not appeared. There was nothing he could do.

Harry closed his eyes. _So cold..._

He willed himself to sleep as the cold grew even worse. Even the warmth from the Clow Cards was fading away. His mind drifted as the screams and memories crowded in, bringing their pain.

_Make it stop_, he begged futilely. _Make it stop..._

Drifting, his mind touched something...

His eyes snapped open as a familiar feeling coursed through him.

_Clow Card!_

He found himself sitting up straight, heart racing, his senses seeking everywhere, as he ignored the visions and memories around him.

A Clow Card was close, he could _feel_ it. Close and active. Reflexively, his grip on his near-forgotten Sealing Wand tightened.

"Where are you...?" he said, ignoring what he saw and heard. They were only memories. Concentrating- and surprised he still remembered how- he willed himself to look only at his surroundings, at the darkness around him.

He saw nothing. Yet, he could feel it, feel the Card still there.

Wondering what he should do, Harry groped futilely in the dark, his mind racing, wishing Hermione were here. _She_ was the thinker. Idly, he wondered what Card this was.

He stared at the blackness around him. He momentarily entertained the thought that whatever Card he had felt was causing the visions, but he remembered that he had first felt this from those _things _outside the train. If the Card wasn't causing the visions, then what _was_ it causing?

The answer came to him in a flash. What, other than the visions, had he been experiencing?

Harry looked at the darkness around him from a new perspective. It should have been so **obvious!** It was the only other thing that could not be accounted for.

"The darkness..." Harry said, just to hear something besides the memory of a scream. "You're causing the darkness!"

Was it his imagination, or did things look a little brighter?

"Some kind of Card that causes darkness..." Harry mused out loud. "The Shade Card? No, this isn't shade... The Darkness Card? The Dark Card?"

The landscape grew noticeably brighter. Harry took that as a confirmatory response.

Standing with a little difficulty, Harry raised the Sealing Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form. Dark Card!" Swing down.

Nothing happened.

Harry sweatdropped. "Okay, I'm sure I did that right!"

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**She couldn't help it. She laughed.**

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Harry was thrown for a loop when _laughter_, of all things, suddenly started to echo around him, drowning out the screams.

"At least someone finds the situation funny," Harry muttered, causing the laughter to increase for a moment.

After an eternity, or however long it really was, the laughter subsided, and silence descended. The silence felt different somehow, almost expectant, as if whoever had laughed- and, now that Harry could hear himself think, whom he suspected had been The Dark Card- was waiting for him to say something else.

The screams were gone, Harry realized. But even as he thought, he heard, faintly in the distance, his mother's cries, and his blood ran cold. _No_, he thought. _Not again!_

And he was surrounded by memories once more: his parents, dying; Hagrid being sent off to Azkaban; he and Ron about to be eaten by giant spiders. They swallowed him once more, threatening to drown him in pain.

_NO!_ he thought as ice gripped his heart once more. "NO! NOT AGAIN!"

As he struggled to free himself from the memories, one thought repeated itself in his head_. Why? Why didn't the Sealing work!_

_Unless... _he thought as the time Dudley nearly drowned him came to mind. _Unless it's not alone..._

Yet concentrating with all his might, he couldn't feel another Card at all.

_Why?_ he yelled as he sank down to his knees and into his memories. _Why?_

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_She felt him calling, yet there was nothing she could do. As close as she was, as much as she wanted to, she was not supposed not interfere. This was a test for **him** to pass. He must prove his worth. Only then will he be freed..._

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As Harry tried to shake off the memories, to little avail, one thought kept intruding. Why had there been a reaction when he mentioned The Dark Card's name?

Vividly, he remembered how he had released the Clow Cards. He had been holding The Windy Card and said its name…

"That's it!" he said, struggling to think straight. "It responded to its name! So if I can figure out what the other Card is, than…"

Than what? What would happen then?

It was then Harry realized there was a distinct lack in his plan.

Harry shrugged it off. He couldn't be any worse than he was now.

But how as he to know what the Card was? The Dark Card was obvious, but he couldn't notice any other effects that couldn't be accounted for…

Wait.

There _was_ another effect that couldn't be explained.

How the HECK _could he see?_ He was surrounded by darkness, so how could he see?

"I can see," he muttered. "But that shouldn't be possible, there's no light... unless..."

Unless what? He wasn't Hermione, darn it! He couldn't make revelations come out of hoops with only a few shreds of information. Or find out which potion to drink just from a few lines on a piece of paper. Or realize what the monster of Slytherin was with a little research.

"Concentrate, Potter," he said. "This is _not_ the time to do this."

What Card could do this? What could let him see in the dark? Well, that was easy. Light. Light could let him see in the dark. But there weren't any light-sources at all! There was nothing in the darkness but the memories and him.

Nothing but the memories and him...

In frustration, he slammed his fist on the ground, then winced. Hitting a hard surface while holding a hard Sealing Wand wasn't really a good idea. Instinctively, he looked at his hand, checking it over for any damage, then did a double take.

Well, well, well…

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"**I think he's getting it."**

_"Just a little bit longer now…"_

"**I hope he passes. It would be nice to have him around."**

_"He **is** pretty cute…"_

"**HEY!"**

_"Just kidding, dear…"_

"**(grumble, grumble)"**

_"Oh, stop pouting, will you!"_

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Harry looked at his hand intently, eyes narrowed. Like he said, there was nothing here but him and the memories. And since the memories couldn't be lighting up anything, that left…

Him.

Now that he looked at it, his hand was glowing. Light was emanating _from him!_

As if that thought had been a signal, a soft glow suddenly suffused the area in front of him, bright in the relative darkness around him. Surprised, he looked up.

A beautiful woman floated in front of him. She wore a white dress with the front slightly open in a line all the way down to her belly button. Thick, curly white hair fell down her back in waves. It was not the white of age, like he had seen in older people. It was the white of radiance, of light made matter. On her head was a strange, multi-point crown. She glowed in that unmistakable way that denoted what she was, the way that was always accompanied by Harry's senses with a scream of '_CLOW CARD!_'.

Knees shaking slightly, Harry got back on his feet. Silently, they regarded each other for a moment. The silence stretched out, until…

"You're the reason I can see, aren't you?" Harry said, his voice soft, as if in a cathedral. It seemed to echo and be absorbed at the same time. "You're The Light Card."

Smiling demurely, The Light Card nodded, bowing before him with her arms spread out at her sides. At the same time, the place brightens. It did not do so in minute increments. Rather, it steadily got brighter and brighter, so fast that Harry thought he would be blinded, and for a split second, he was. Raising his arm, he shielded his eyes.

When he thought it was safe, Harry opened one eye, dropping the arm as he saw he wasn't about to get his retinas burned out.

The first thing he noticed was the silence. Nothing else registered for a while, only the complete, total and absolute silence. No screams. No cries. Nothing. Sweet, glorious nothing.

It took him a bit longer to notice the second woman. She stood out form the background, which had lightened into glorious white. The second woman- Clow Card, he corrected himself- wore a dress almost exactly like The Light Card's, except it was dead black. She, too, wore a strange crown. Her hair was long and silky straight, blacker than night and just as beautiful. Her glow seemed different somehow, as if it were something more felt than seen.

"And you…" Harry said, looking at the second woman. "You're The Dark Card…"

The Dark Card smiled, and there was nothing demure about it. There was a twist to her lips, a look to her eyes, that made Harry _very_ nervous, although he couldn't _quite_ say for sure why. The two stood before him, side by side, a study of contrasts.

"**Congratulations, Harry Potter,"** The Dark Card said. **"You have passed our test."**

"Test?" Harry repeated incredulously.

The Light Card smiled. _"Although Master Keroberos named you Card Captor, that does not mean we will obey you. Not until we are satisfied of your worth. Hence, the test."_

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Were you the ones who caused those visions?" he asked, a tinge of anger evident in his voice.

The Dark shook her head, her midnight hair rippling behind her. **"That was none of our doing. Rather, it was the Dementors."**

"Dementors?"

The Light Card's mouth twisted unpleasantly, although it did not detract from her beauty. _"The Dementors are loathsome creatures. They feed on happiness and memories of happiness, draining them from people as a leach drains blood, leaving them with only their darkest recollections."_

"**You felt them tonight, even before our test began."**

Harry's eyes widened as he remembered the feeling of darkness, of evil, of nothingness that had come to him in the Hogwarts express. The one in the doorway of their compartment, just before things got surreal…

The Light Card nodded as she saw the realization in Harry's eyes. _"Yes, that was they. They were the cause of your anguish."_

Harry took a deep breath, steeling himself as he looked at the two sprites before him. "What was the test?" he asked.

The Dark Card smiled. **"To see the darkness in yourself, and master it! You are but young, yet you hold more pain then you know. Still, you have persevered, not giving up to your darkness within…"**

Harry's eyes narrowed again. "I thought you didn't have anything to do with those visions?"

The Dark Card seemed to shuffle nervously, her smile slipping a bit. **"Uh, well, you see, it was an opportunity too good to miss, and, well, uh…"**

"_It was her idea!"_ The Light Card said, pointing at Dark.

Dark gave her a look. **"Oh, go ahead, leave me holding the buck, _you_ were the one who-"**

"A-hem!" Harry coughed pointedly, causing the two to shut up, exchanging sheepish looks. "What was the point?" he asked. "Why did I pass your test?"

"_You did not give in to the darkness within yourself,"_ Light said. _"You did not loose hope, no matter what memory you saw. You are strong, stronger than you know. You possess power even you know not. That is why we want you to be our master. That is why we would place ourselves in your hands."_

As one, the two Clow Cards knelt. **_"We offer ourselves to you, Card Captor,"_** they chorused.

"**Literally and figuratively,"** The Dark Card muttered, receiving a poke in the side from Light and causing Harry to blush.

Harry raised the Sealing Wand over his head, then stop, hesitating. "A while ago, I only felt one of you. The Dark. Where were _you_ hiding?" he asked Light.

The Light smiled, and stood, gliding towards Harry. _"I was with you, Master,"_ she said, placing a hand on his chest, where Harry's heart beat. _"I have always been with you, ever since you held the Clow Book. And I must say, you have a very… **interesting**, way with women."_

Harry blushed. Oh, bloody…

"_Don't worry,"_ The Light Card whispered, _"it will be our little secret."_ She giggled.

Yup, _definitely_ 'Oh, bloody…'.

The Dark appeared suddenly beside her fellow sprite, placing her hand next to hers on Harry's chest. **"Never give in to the darkness within, Master. Therein lies your strength."**

"But I did give in," Harry said. "I was just waiting to die…"

The Dark shook her head. **"No, Master, you did _not_ give in. Even in your weakness, you still sought a way to free yourself. We would not have chosen you as our Master otherwise."**

She smiled at him, and even though her smile had not changed, Harry felt comforted.

The Light Card leaned forward and gently, oh so gently, kissed him. Her touch was light, her lips felt insubstantial, barely there, gentle and soft. Without thinking, Harry leaned forward a little, for the first time meeting a kiss instead of just standing there. Kiss was warm, innocent and sweet, giving and not asking for more than he could give. They did nothing else, just kissed for what felt like an eternity.

Eventually, The Light Card leaned back and Harry opened his eyes (when had he closed them?), feeling a bit disappointed.

The disappointment changed to surprise when two cool hands grabbed Harry's head and shoulders and held tight as The Dark Card pressed her lips to his own. She kissed him fiercely, hungrily, a soft moan forming in her throat. Harry closed his eyes once more, again moving into the kiss, responding, trying to match what she was giving him. Her mouth felt cool against his, soft, like a night breeze. She was firm, craving, demanding, and for once he was willing to go along with it, meeting her as firmly. Almost on their own, his arms rose, encircling her waist and resting there lightly, their slight pressure pressing him gently against him even as he answered to her.

Once more, it was she who broke the kiss, licking his lips a few times as if tasting him, before moving back. His arms slipped back down to his sides as he opened his eyes once more. They both gave him enigmatic smiles, the ones that all women knew and used to drive men crazy. Hesitantly, his hand rose to his lips.

"Thank you," he said, although it seemed lacking. They merely kept on smiling.

Gripping the Sealing Wand in two hands once more, he raised it over his head as the two Cards held hands…

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"Harry! Harry! Are you alright?"

Someone was slapping his face.

Harry opened his eyes, blinking as if waking from a dream. There were lanterns above him and the floor on which he lay was shaking. It took him a few moments to recognize where he was.

He was back on the Hogwarts Express. It was moving again, and the lights had come back on. He was on the floor- it looked like he had slid off his seat- with Ron and Hermione kneeling next to him. Above them, Ginny, Professor Lupin, and Neville, looking worried. Harry felt a bit sick, like something was slightly off. His face felt wet with cold sweat.

He tried to stand up, his legs a bit shaky. Ron and Hermione helped him up, heaving him back onto his seat.

"Are you OK?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said, and it was true. Although he felt like he looked as bad as the other felt, he knew he didn't feel as bad. The 'feel' of the _things_- the Dementors?- was gone, leaving only a feeling of nothingness that was slowly being filled.

Harry looked around the bright compartment. Ginny and Neville looked back at him, both looking very pale.

A loud snap made them all of them- all but Harry, who was sinking into thought and thus was only brought back to the present- jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces. Idly, Harry wondered where he could buy one of those slabs. It was HUGE!

"Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."

Harry took the chocolate, biting into what he thought looked like a soft corner. Warmth seemed to spread to the tips of his fingers and toes. He chewed thoughtfully as Lupin started giving chocolate to everyone.

"What was that thing?" he asked Lupin after a moment.

"A Dementor," Lupin said, crumpling the empty chocolate wrapper and stuffing it in his pocket, confirming Harry's suspicions. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."

Everyone stared at him.

"Eat," he repeated, moving past Harry and heading for the door. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me…"

With a swish of his robes, he disappeared into the corridor.

"Are you sure you're OK, Harry?" Hermione asked, watching Harry anxiously.

"I'm fine," Harry said, wiping a little sweat from his face. "What happened?"

And so they told him. After Professor Lupin came back and said they'd be at Hogwarts in ten minutes, nothing more was said. Each became wrapped up in their own thoughts, which was just fine with Harry.

He kept replaying the sequence of events over and over again in his mind. The Dementor had come in, he had fallen unconscious, and the next thing he knew, he was in The Dark's test. Yet according to his friends, he hadn't moved at all. He had been lying on the floor all this time, and Professor Lupin had even stepped over him, so he hadn't gone anywhere. Had it really happened? Or had it all been just a dream?

Harry crossed his arms, still deep in thought, and felt something under his robes. Blinking, he reached underneath. His companions, intent on their own thoughts, didn't notice.

Drawing it out slightly, just enough so that he could see it but not need to pull it out of his robes, he barely stopped himself from gasping out loud. In his hands were The Light Card and The Dark Card…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: I hated putting Harry through that. Story wise, however, it was necessary. Unlike Sakura, I didn't think Harry would be much intimidated by finding himself in a dark, black space. After the Basilisk, something like that just doesn't cut it. At least he got two new concubin- er, Clow Cards, out of it. Speaking of which, why all the names? Or at least, naming the Cards? Besides being what was in the anime, there's an old superstition involving names. If you tell someone your real, true name, they have power and control over you. This idea pops up in 'The Books of Magic', originally by Neil Gaiman. If you want an easier to understand example, think of the power someone would have over a (masked) superhero if they knew the hero's real name. Kind of like that.

The whole thing was in his mind. So no time passed as he was being tortured. Even with the last bits, this was a basic 'Capture-the-Cards'. Man, I hate myself, I promised not to make anything like that. I hope I haven't turned you guys off, I promise, the next chap will be better and funnier, not to mention longer. -_Makes an Unbreakable Vow on it_- Sorry, Voakands-san!

Harry reacted to the kisses differently this time. Why? Well, for one, he needed comforting after what he went through, and after that wringer, he was not quite himself, so he became a bit (more) OC.

To **sesshoumaru-tolkijin:** sorry it took me a while to reply. Thanks for your review! I don't get so many I can afford to ignore one.

To **Mage-Alia:** Nice to hear from you. You think this is one of the best? Aww, I'm touched... TT o TT -_waahhh-_

I dedicate this chapter to you guys. -_sniff_-

And so ends the easy portion of this story. Starting next fic, we're off to Hogwarts, where Harry starts seeing things, has worse than classes to deal with (and you thought the first week in _your_ school was bad), no access to anime, and has to keep his roommates from finding out about Keroberos! Talk about stress! If only there was some girl he could turn to, someone who'll shower him with kisses and smooth his hurts with her lips. -_sigh_- Oh well. Guess he'll have to make do with seven female Clow Cards. -_snicker_- And also, what I promised in the first chap will finally come to pass! Harry will have a rival! And it won't be the small wolf we all know and like to see blush! Who will it be? Ah, now _that_, is a secret! And maybe, just maybe, the return of Winter Moon! Find out next chap!

Uh, the next chappy will be a while. Tests and all that. UGH! But don't worry, to make up for it, the chapter will be _really_ long. My word on it.

Can't wait for the next chap? Alright, here's a little sneak preview of what to expect. Just don't get used to these:

_Dumbledore started to speak again._

"_Lastly," he said, "It is my great pleasure to announce a new student in our midst. I would like to introduce a transferee from oversees, miss Fei Lee!"_

_A door behind the staff table opened at this cue, and someone stepped out. Obscured from view by the staff, there was time for a mix of polite applause and curious murmuring to break out in the Hall. It lasted until the girl rounded the staff table past Hagrid and people could see her clearly. The noise died down instantly. _

_She had short, boyish hair, dark-chestnut in color, with a slight tail-like appearance at the nape. Wine-colored eyes coolly scanned the Great Hall. Harry estimated she was about his height, yet she seemed taller from the way she carried herself. She was... imperious, for lack of a better word, like a princess in her carriage. Or a queen on her throne. _

_The dead silence lasted for all of two seconds._

Please review, C&C welcome. Flames will be used to feed my pet phoenix.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

POTTER, STAY AWAY FROM ME! AHHH! -_runs away holding Horcrux-_

_-Harry follows, casting Crucios, Sectumsempras and killing curses-_ "-and this is for the kissing scenes, and the bed scenes, and for making me repeat that day over and over again-"

-_Syaoran, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Meiling watch, lounging on deck chairs_-

Tomoyo: "Shouldn't we do something to help him?"

Syaoran and Sakura look at each other: "NAH!"

Meiling: "Besides, he cut us out of the fic! What's a CCS fic without us?"

Harry: "Technically, it's an HP fic with CCS elements."

Syaoran: "Don't you have someone to get revenge on?"

Harry: "Oh, yeah. BYE!" –_runs off again_-

Tomoyo: "Oh well, I guess we can't have everything." -_pauses_- "You guys up to a foursome orgy?"

All: "SURE!"

-**FADE OUT TO SOUNDS OF CLOTHES BEING REMOVED AND CHASE MUSIC-**


	6. Harry's Rival Appears!

A/N: Hey people! Missed me?

-_dead silence. Crickets chirp_-

Awww. And after I spent all this time working on the new chapter of 'Card Captor Harry'. I guess you don't want to read it, so…

-_holds it over the fire_-

Oh, what's that? You _did_ miss me? Oh, that's nice. Do you want to read this? Yes? Then page down!

-_drum roll_-

And now, the chapter you've all been waiting for, I present to you… THE COMING OF HARRY'S RIVAL!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 6, The Rain: Harry's Rival Appears!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I have absolutely no right to either. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me. Welfare checks are fine, though. Artists really _do_ starve

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Harry followed Ron and Hermione out onto a rough mud track, wishing he'd brought along an umbrella. He made sure to keep his robe as closed as he could. He didn't know if Clow Cards could suffer from water damage, but he wasn't about to risk it.

At least a hundred stagecoaches waited for them, each pulled, Harry was surprised- but not exactly shocked- to see, by what looked like mutant horses. They had no skin, absolutely fleshless. Their black coats clung straight to their skeletons. Their heads looked vaguely dragon-like, with pupil-less white eyes staring like the glassy eyes of a mannequin. Wings sprouted from each side, large, leathery wings that looked like they belonged to bats. The overall effect made them look eerie and sinister.

Harry took one look at them and went back to following Ron and Hermione, looking for a coach. After the Basilisk, Voldemort on the back of someone's head, and the emotional wringer he recently went through, weird creatures that Hagrid probably found cute weren't very impressive.

Harry followed his friends into a coach that smelled faintly of mould and straw. Idly, Harry thought that the coach must not get much use, since it managed to develop a smell. During the ride, Ron and Hermione kept giving him looks, like they expected him to collapse or something. Harry found this vaguely amusing.

As the carriage trundled towards a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked by stone columns topped with winged boars- another thing that amused Harry, since they were exactly the sort of 'imaginary' creatures found in pretentious Muggle gates of the same nature- he 'felt' a familiar chill, a sense of evil, of nothingness. Out the window, the last Potter saw a Dementor standing guard at either side of the gate. A wave of cold passed over him again, and ice tried to grip his heart anew. With an effort, he forced it down, deliberately thinking of happy thoughts as they passed through the gates.

The carriage picked up speed as it made its way up the long drive towards the castle. The lights of the many turrets and towers shone through the coaches' tiny window.

As Harry stepped down from the vehicle after Ron and Hermione, a drawling, delighted voice sounded in his ear, one he would have rather done without.

"You _fainted_, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually _fainted_?" Malfoy said as he elbowed past Hermione to block Harry's way up the steps to the castle, looking gleeful and _very_ malicious.

Harry had a quick fantasy of The Windy, The Earthy and The Wood tossing Malfoy into the lake via a high parabolic arc, all the while being pin cushioned by The Shot Card while in mid-air, followed by making him go through it over and over again courtesy of The Time Card.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said, pulling Harry out of his happy little daydream.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" said Malfoy loudly. "Did the scary old Dementor frighten you, too, Weasley?"

"Is there a problem here?" a mild voice asked. Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage.

"Oh, no- er- _Professor_," Malfoy said with only the faintest tinge of sarcasm. Smirking at Crabbe and Goyle, he led them up to the castle.

Resisting the urge to kick him, Harry joined Ron and Hermione as the crowd going up swept them along. Getting into the Entrance Hall, Harry was glad to get out of the freezing rain. He was about to follow the crowd into the Great Hall when he heard a voice call out.

"Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

Harry and Hermione turned. Yup, definitely Professor McGonagall. Harry got a bad feeling. It wasn't based on anything, just the sinking feeling one sometimes gets when called by a particularly authoritive authority figure.

"There's no need to look so worried," she said as they made it to her. "I just want a word in my office. Move along there, Weasley."

Harry saw Ron staring after them before the crowd obstructed his view. As they followed Professor McGonagall up the marble staircase and along the corridor, Harry suddenly remembered Keroberos. He winced a bit internally at forgetting the little Sun Guardian, and hoped he was alright. Then he winced internally again as he remembered that the little guy probably hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Maybe hoping Keroberos was healthy wasn't such a good idea. He'd probably thrash Harry for forgetting to get him something to eat.

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A while later, Professor McGonagall led them to the Great Hall. Black was the dominant color, lit by thousands of floating candles. At the head of the Hall, in front of the staff table, an ancient hat lay on a three-legged stool. Hermione looked around.

"Isn't the Sorting over, Professor?" she asked softly.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "We have a transfer, however, and it is school tradition not to Sort transfers with first years."

"Oh!" Hermione said. For Harry, however, it was clear as mud. There was a school tradition regarding transfers?

Wait. Stop. Rewind. There was a transfer?

As Professor McGonagall headed for her empty chair in the staff table, Harry turned to Hermione. "Hogwarts takes transfers?" he asked her as they quietly made their way towards the Gryffindor table, too intent on his question to notice the people looking and pointing at them as they passed along the back of the Hall.

Hermione nodded. "Well, it _is_ a school, after all. They take transfers just like Muggle schools do."

"Hmm," Harry said. "You learn something new everyday."

Hermione gave him a sideways glance at that.

He and Hermione sat down next to Ron. "What was all that about?" he muttered to Harry.

Harry started to explain in a whisper, but at that moment, the Headmaster stood up to speak, and he broke off.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore said. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it is best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"

Everyone listened attentively as he made the proclamation about the Dementors, introduced Professor Lupin, and announced Hagrid's appointment as Care of Magical Creatures teacher, the latter receiving wild applause from the Gryffindor table. As the clapping died down, and Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth, Dumbledore started to speak again.

"Lastly," he said, "It is my great pleasure to announce a new student in our midst. I would like to introduce a transferee from oversees, miss Fei Lee!"

A door behind the staff table opened at this cue, and someone stepped out. Obscured from view by the staff, there was time for a mix of polite applause and curious murmuring to break out in the Hall. It lasted until the girl rounded the staff table past Hagrid and people could see her clearly. The noise died down instantly.

She had short, boyish hair, dark-chestnut in color, with a slight tail-like appearance at the nape. Wine-colored eyes coolly scanned the Great Hall. Harry estimated she was about his height, yet she seemed taller from the way she carried herself. She was... imperious, for lack of a better word, like a princess in her carriage. Or a queen on her throne.

The dead silence lasted for all of two seconds. It was immediately followed by a low murmur, one that tried to be quiet, but somehow still seemed to buzz. From the snatches of conversation Harry heard around him, the boys were regarding her _very_ appreciatively.

The buzz continued as she made her way in front of the staff table to stand beside the Sorting Hat, where Professor McGonagall was already waiting. It died down, albeit reluctantly, as Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak again.

"As with all who enter upon these hallowed halls of learning, she will also be sorted into a House. Whichever House she eventually joins, I trust you will all do your best to make her feel welcome here."

"You can bet on it," Seamus muttered, causing a round of, had they been girls, what would have been considered giggling from the boys. The girls, however, gave them those 'will you grow up' looks they used during moments like these. Harry wisely kept his mouth shut.

Silence descended as Professor McGonagall lifted the Sorting Hat, and the girl sat down on the stool. The Transfiguration teacher placed the Hat on her head, which immediately fell over his eyes. Harry smiled reminiscently. The same thing had happened to him when _he_ was first year.

The girl, to her credit, didn't move when it happened, just sat there, looking dignified. The silence thickened as the moments passed, the tension running so high Harry half-expected the air to turn to jelly.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the rip in the Hat that served as it's 'mouth' opened. Everyone leaned forward, intent.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The cheers from the Slytherin House table were nearly drowned out by the collective disappointed groans of the boys, followed by the sniffs of the girls, of the other three.

"SLYTHERIN?" Seamus raged. "How could someone like that end up in Slytherin?"

Mutters of agreement sounded from some of the other boys, who all ignored the girls' dirty looks, although some could _not_ ignore the shin-kicks, whacks on the heads, foot stomps, elbow jabs, and other painful little things that boys couldn't retaliate for.

"Really!" Hermione sniffed as the girl was greeted with loud cheers and open arms in the Slytherin table. "What's so special about her anyway?"

Ron opened his mouth to respond, but Harry- gently- elbowed him in the ribs while Hermione wasn't looking. "Don't answer that," he mouthed when Ron looked at him.

Looking a bit sullen, Ron kept his mouth shut, instead looking at the girl as she settled down close to Malfoy, who immediately had Crabbe and Goyle make all the people in the intervening distance move. Harry followed his friend's gaze, noting that the blond Pureblood was already making a move on the girl.

The girl wasn't looking at Malfoy, however. Instead, her eyes met Harry's.

A strange feeling came over the Card Captor. The look in the girl's eyes held his as he felt something silent pass from her to him, a sort of promise, a vow of some kind. The look in her eyes, while not exactly unpleasant- it wasn't anywhere close to what Snape usually sent his way- still made him uneasy.

Then the look lost his hold on him as the girl turned, talking to Malfoy, who immediately started to preen. For Harry, however, it wasn't as easy.

_Do I know that girl?_ was the question that came to his mind as the food finally appeared.

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Harry couldn't keep the grin off his face as he entered his familiar dormitory. Finally, HOME, SWEET HOME! As Dean, Seamus, Ron and Neville headed for their beds, Harry opened his trunk.

Keroberos glared balefully at him from his cauldron.

Harry instantly slammed the lid shut.

"You alright there, Harry?" Ron asked as he chucked off his school robe.

"Yeah," Harry lied. "Lid slipped."

Taking off his own robe, Harry opened the lid, and, before Kero could react, dumped it on top of him. Grabbing his own sleepwear, risking a quick look at his dorm mates- they weren't looking at him; good- he grabbed his robes, with Kero in them, and stuffed them behind the bunch of curtains at the corner of his four poster with a muttered "keep quiet".

Hoping Kero wouldn't let his temper get the better of him- for a little guy, he had a healthy set of lungs- Harry quickly changed out of his clothes, not joining in on his room mates' discussion about what a waste it was for the new girl to end up in Slytherin. Making excuses that he was more tired than he thought- which Ron and Neville accepted, remembering what happened to him on the train- Harry dropped his clothes into his trunk and was just about to close the lid when he spied the Clow Book sticking out next to his school books. Looking over his shoulder again- the other boys were all intent on their discussion- Harry grabbed the book and stuffed it next to Keroberos under the curtains. Sliding into bed, he blew out his lamp and closed the curtains.

Kero was already trying to untangle himself from the robes as Harry let go of the curtain pulls.

"I'm fine," Kero hissed as Harry reached over to help him out of the tangle. Shrugging, and not wanting to have a finger bitten off, Harry reached for the Clow Book instead, opening it with his Key. The space inside glared emptily up at him.

"Be careful," he whispered to Keroberos, who was trying to get out rather violently, if quietly. "The Cards are in there."

With a grumble, Keroberos moderated his efforts. He was able to get out quickly after that, since he wasn't doing a tantrum while trying to get out anymore.

"Sorry," Harry said, reaching for the discarded robes and gently feeling for the Clow Cards.

"Sorry?" Keroberos hissed. "Do you know how long it's been since I had anything to eat?"

Harry winced as he reached behind him for the Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes he had taken from his trunk and handed it to the irate plushy-look-alike. "I said I was sorry. And I brought you food."

Kero looked at the proffered sweets. "Apology accepted," he said, grabbing said morsels and starting to chow done, thankfully having the presence of mind to keep it quiet.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Finally finding the Clow Cards, he was glad to see they were perfectly dry. Carefully, he began to put them in the hollow inside the Clow Book.

"Hey, Kero," Harry asked as he finished, closing the book and locking it. "Are the Clow Cards waterproof?"

"Oh, yeah," Kero said, his voice muffled by food. "You can use them underwater, no problem."

"That's good to know," Harry said, tucking the Book under his pillow.

For a moment, the only sounds inside the curtains of the four-poster were Keroberos finishing off his food.

"Kero," Harry asked suddenly as he lay with his head on his pillow, "What are Dementors?"

Keroberos' head jerked in his direction, a surprised look in his face. "Why do you ask?"

Harry shrugged. "I met something on the train that The Dark Card said was one, and Professor Lupin confirmed it. I was just wondering what you knew."

Keroberos boggled at him. "You've got The Dark Card?"

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Waking up was bittersweet for Harry. On one hand, it was nice to wake up in Hogwarts instead of number 4, Privet drive. On the other hand, the only person Harry knew who was ever enthusiastic about school was Hermione, who practically lived off the thing. Harry, being a perfectly normal- relatively- student, wasn't too hot about the idea. Still, it was _very_ good to be back in Hogwarts.

Leaving Keroberos in the Dormitory with the few foodstuffs left in his trunk and a promise to bring him something to eat later, Harry and his friends headed for the Great Hall for breakfast.

"It's good to be back," Harry said, making a show of taking a deep breath, as if sampling the school's air, before sighing in appreciation.

Ron and Hermione looked at him in bemusement. "Good to be away from the Muggles, eh?" Ron said.

"Always good to be away from _those_ Muggles," Harry said.

As they made their way down the marble staircase, Harry paused, having caught sight of a familiar flash of silver hair. Noticing he wasn't with them anymore, Ron and Hermione stopped. They followed his gaze.

Ron shook his head as Hermione made a sound of amusement that may have been distantly related to the giggle, a knowing smile on her face. "Daydreaming a bit early today, aren't you, Harry?" she teased.

"Give the guy a break," Ron said, his tone equally teasing, as the Potter boy began to sputter in protest. "It's been weeks since Harry's seen his dear, sweet, beloved-"

"-radiant, glorious, beautiful-" Hermione joined in, smiling widely, in one of the rare times where she and Ron ganged up on Harry.

"-dazzling, lovely, wonderful-" Ron kept on piling the adjectives, pretending to swoon.

"-Winter!" Hermione finished, and the two degenerated into peals of laughter as Harry glared at them, blushing red.

"You know, there are other people in Hogwarts I can be friends with," Harry threatened.

"His goddess," Ron continued, completely ignoring him, "his object of worship, the reason for his existence-"

"-the sun of his days, the moon of his night skies-" Hermione threw in, clasping her hands in front of her chest and looking doe-eyed at something in front and above her.

"Good one," Ron said.

"Thanks. I've been practicing."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Get a love life, you two," he muttered as he stalked down the stairs, the two snickering behind him.

They entered the Great Hall, ignoring Malfoy's little one-man comedy show, as well as Parkinson.

Dropping into the seat next to George, Harry reached for the nearest platter of food.

"New third-year timetables," George said, passing them over. "What's up with you, Harry?"

"Malfoy," said Ron, sitting down on Georges other side and glaring over at the Slytherin table. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten the teasing.

Harry followed his gaze, remembering the little fantasy he had yesterday. Ah, well, he figured he'd have to settle for getting back at Malfoy with more mundane spells.

As he was about to turn back to the discussion at hand, he saw that the transferee wasn't paying attention to Malfoy. Instead, she was looking right at him.

Their eyes met, and Harry felt something pass between them again. It was the same unfathomable feeling he got last night.

They looked at each other for a heartbeat, and then, the girl was watching Malfoy make another exaggerated faint, smiling faintly at the antics.

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Harry's first week at Hogwarts, as first weeks went, wasn't _too_ bad. If it hadn't meant Hagrid risked losing his job as teacher, Harry would have been overjoyed about Malfoy's accident. Served the git right for not listening in class. And Defense Against the Dark Arts was, for the first time since Harry had come to school, _not _a joke, although Harry was kind of disappointed Professor Lupin didn't let him tackle the Boggart.

On the flip side, Harry was able to find a way to sneak food into his bag during dinner so he could sneak it up to Keroberos, who had eventually let slip he didn't really need to eat but had a sweet tooth, and was agreeable to staying in the dormitory when Harry threatened to strangle him for not telling him sooner. The little guy was so paranoid about secrecy, he'd hide from Scabbers. When Harry teased him about this, Kero merely said that it was better safe than sorry. What if Scabbers was some kind of Ministry spy? At which Harry had laughed. Scabbers, a spy? The idea was preposterous.

Later in the year, those words would haunt him…

In the meantime, Harry went through his classes like normal. He kept the Clow Book with him in his bag at all times, at Kero's insistence. What if a Clow Card suddenly appeared? Harry, remembering The Mirror's words- and by extension, the times she slept with him- agreed to bring it along, barely managing to dodge Kero's questions about why he was so red. It wasn't so hard. As long as he kept it _way_ under his other books, no one noticed it was there. Harry wasn't sure _what _he'd say if anyone asked about it.

When the first weekend came up, however, things took a definite turn…

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Harry woke up on the first Saturday of the school year unusually early. Next to him, Keroberos was still snoozing, and the Card Captor was once more grateful that the little Guardian didn't snore too loudly. Deciding to take advantage of the hour, he quietly got dressed, planning to head down to the Great Hall to snag breakfast and maybe get Kero a morning snack while there weren't too many people around to see him and get suspicious. Not a lot of students- none off the top of his head; none he could imagine, actually- wake up and had breakfast at the crack of dawn, much less bring food up to their dormitory.

For a second, Harry became sorely tempted to tie a brick around Kero and throw him out of Gryffindor tower. If the little plushy hadn't let slip he really didn't need to eat, Harry would have still been trying to sneak him food inside his bag. His school stuff smelling like edibles, he did _not_ need, thank you very much.

Reaching under his pillow, he pulled out the Clow Book. Yes, he actually slept with the thing. He'd gotten used to the Cards comforting presence around him. It seemed only natural to have it as close as possible.

Leaving it on the bed for the moment, he rose, took off his pajamas and got dressed. He had a little difficulty when his top caught on the Key, but he was getting more used to dealing with things like that. He never took the key off anymore, even when he bathed. It gave him assurance, for some reason, a feeling of comfort similar o what he got from having the Clow Cards close by.

Removing the Key from around his neck, he inserted it into the lock and gave it a turn. The clasp popped off, revealing the Cards. Carefully, he pulled them out, laying them out before him. Although he still blushed whenever he looked at the female-sprite Clow Cards- especially The Mirror- it wasn't as bad as it used to be. Tucking them together, he placed them in one of the inside pockets of his robe.

Climbing down the spiral staircase, he entered to common room. Taking a quick look around- nothing interesting- he opened the portrait hole.

"Morning!" he greeted the Fat Lady as the portrait closed behind him.

She smiled at him. "Nice to see you back."

"Good to be back," he said as he made his way down the familiar hallway down to the Great Hall.

About to make his way down the marble staircase, Harry was idly wondering what treat he'd get for Keroberos when a flash appeared out of the corner of his eye. He turned. A girl with shoulder-length silver hair was coming down the hallway, her head bent over a notebook, tapping a quill against her cheek. She walked quickly, her entire body swaying with her movement.

She also seemed to have no idea where she was walking. Her foot was already hovering over thin air as Harry grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back from the brink of the stairway. That jarred the girl out of whatever study she had been in.

"Oh, hey Harry!" she said, looking up from her notebook, and Harry almost lost himself in dark-brown eyes. Blinking, she looked around. "Ugh. I wasn't about to fall off the stairs again, was I?"

"You were," Harry said, trying to sound nonchalant and pulling it off easily. This wasn't the first time this has happened, after all. "But no harm done."

The girl sighed. "I really should pay more attention to where I'm going. One of these days, I'm _really_ going to fall down those stairs."

Harry smiled. The two of them began to walk down, the girl's notebook safely closed and held against her chest. " So, what are you working on now?" asked Harry.

The girl shrugged. "Well, I'm trying to write a _Naruto _self-insert, but I'm hitting a little writer's block. I can't think of a way for Sasuke to treat my character with a little more respect without making him go OC."

"Have her beat up Sasuke," Harry advised. "That worked for Kakashi."

"I can't," she pouted. "She doesn't know enough _taijutsu_ or _ninjutsu_, and if I give her a _kekkei_ _genkai_, it'll be too cliché..."

They talked along those lines for the next few minutes, loitering just inside the doors of the nearly empty Great Hall. Other students soon started coming in, however.

"Thanks for your help, Harry," the girl said as she turned, about to walk to her House table for breakfast. "It was nice talking to you!"

"Any time, Winter," Harry said, heading for the Gryffindor table. "Any time."

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Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. One, since coming to Hogwarts, Harry had come to love _very_ dearly.

See, Harry was thin, no doubt about that. After years of malnourishment at the Dursleys, coupled with weeks-long incarcerations and slave labor, it was only to be expected. After he came to Hogwarts, however, there were those who wondered- Ron and Hermione, for instance- why he didn't look any different after a few months. After all, the food in Hogwarts was free, unlimited, and he didn't have to do all the slaving he had for the Dursleys anymore. Yet, as the weeks and eventually months passed, his body never grew more than it already was, except maybe a bit taller. He was still pretty skinny.

It only came to be obvious what the case was when Hermione had taken the time to _really_ observe Harry's eating habits. She was very surprised to realize that Harry ate more than she and Ron did in a single meal. And not just junk food either. Given his deprivation with the Dursleys, Harry wasn't very particular about what he ate, as long as it wasn't really nasty. As such, he ate as much vegetables and other 'healthy' foods as he did meats and desserts. And yet, there was no change, other than vertical, in his physique. When she'd brought her concerns and observations to Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse had the boy examined. It was revealed that Harry actually had a very high metabolism, although how _that_ survived the Dursleys reign of terror, she could only guess. Perhaps, she theorized, his magic had increased the nutritional value of the food as it came into his system, barely keeping him alive.

In any case, all this meant Harry could eat as much as he wanted without worrying about getting fat, something he had viewed with distaste ever since his cousin Dudley had reached the proportions of baby elephant. Mrs. Weasley hadn't gotten it when he had explained the situation to her last summer, insisting he needed to eat more and build up, until he'd finally given up and just ate whatever she gave him. He would have eaten it anyway.

At Hogwarts, however, he went wild.

Taking advantage of the fact he didn't have too much competition over the food because of the early hour, Harry proceeded to polish off half a platter of sausages, a whole bowl of peas, at least one loaf of bread's worth of toast, three bowls of salad, and any number of eggs cooked in any number of ways. By the time the other Gryffindors started trickling in, he had sated his initial hunger and was eating at a more sedate pace, spreading a mix of berry jams on a piece of bread. From that point on, however, he still ate more than the average Gryffindor. Thankfully for him, he had mastered a pace of eating where he managed to be so smooth no one noticed he was eating enough for three people.

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he stood up. No sign of Ron and Hermione yet. Hermione sometimes slept in on weekends, and Ron liked to laze around in bed, so this wasn't unusual. He usually waited for them for breakfast during the weekends so they could go together, but that morning he had just been too hungry.

Patting his pocket- not the same ones that contained the Clow Cards- he wondered what Keroberos would think of the blueberry muffins he had snitched for him. The little plushy liked things sweeter, but this would have to do. The kitchens hadn't made any of the chocolate ones that morning.

His hand moved towards the Clow Cards in his other pockets. He hadn't seen them all week, not since the Dementors. He knew he didn't have to be worried. After all, Keroberos said they'd been undisturbed since Clow Reed's death. Still, he wondered if that was healthy for them. Granted, they had seemed alright when he met them- and when they weren't trying to do him in- but still…

As Harry walked the halls of Hogwarts, taking the long way to Gryffindor Tower that led him to the other side of the school, he found himself eyeing the door to an empty classroom.

_ALRIGHT! _he admitted to himself. He wanted to see them again. He wasn't used to this kind of situation, having friends- did he _really_ just use that word to describe the Cards?- that spent their time as inanimate objects unless _he_ felt like it. It wasn't normal! Granted, things stopped being normal for him on his eleventh birthday- Muggle-normal, anyway- but even for wizard-normal, this was stretching it, if not breaking altogether.

_Oh, stuff it_, he thought, reaching up to his neck to get his Key as he placed his hand on the nearest doorknob. What harm could there be in talking to the-

"Harry Potter?" a voice behind him said.

His hand fell away from the doorway as he turned, running over the possible list of people who'd be asking for his name like that. First years, most definitely, but the voice had sounded older than that.

Turning completely, he found himself face-to-face with the girl transferee to Slytherin. Up close, she was even more good looking, something that he hadn't been able to see clearly during the Care of Magical Creatures and Potions classes earlier that week. There was even more imperiousness in her gaze, bordering on arrogance, but her expression was neutral, even blank.

"Yes?" he said as his hand dropped form his neck as she tried to remember her name. Kay something?

She held out her hand. "Give me the Clow Cards."

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Silence. Harry blinked.

"Excuse me?" he managed to choke out, somehow sounding baseline normal and slightly surprised. That question had completely thrown him for a loop. It wasn't exactly something he had thought would pop up. Granted, Dumbledore asking him about Clow Cards would have been slightly off-putting, but to have a complete stranger, one he had never really met yet, ask him out of the blue like that… Harry thought his reaction was entirely appropriate for the situation.

There was a flash of annoyance in those dark crimson eyes. "The Clow Cards. And the Sealing Wand. Give them to me."

"Huh?" The house was still messed up, so one shouldn't be surprised his responses were so short.

The annoyance returned and stayed. "I don't have time for these games, Harry Potter. Give me the Clow Cards and the Sealing Wand."

It was at this point that Harry decided to try playing dumb. After all, it worked with Snape. Mostly. More or less. Give or take. "The whats? What are you talking about?"

The annoyance went up a notch. Three at least. Her expression now very much annoyed, she reached towards his neck, pulling out the cord around it. The Key fell out of the top, and he instinctively grabbed it. She was stronger than she looked. She actually managed to keep the Key moving in her direction before he stopped it. The cord grew taut, and the Key's notches dug into Harry's fingers.

"This Key," she said, glaring at him slightly. "Give it to me."

Well, playing dumb was out of the question, and it hadn't seemed to work anyway. "No," Harry said with quiet conviction.

"I'm getting tired of this. You have no idea what you have. Give me the Key NOW!" she said, tugging hard.

Harry tugged back, even though his neck was starting to become very uncomfortable. "And I suppose _you_ do? Who the _heck _are you anyway?"

Her eyes narrowed. "My name is Fei Lee."

"Look Fei-" Harry said.

"Lee!" she interrupted him. "Now give me the Clow Cards!"

"Fine, _Lee_!" Harry said. "There's no way I'm giving you anything."

Her gaze became an outright glare. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Not waiting for an answer, she drew herself up, still clutching the cord. "I am a direct descendant of Clow Reed himself! The Clow Cards are mine by right of blood!"

He gave her a withering stare. "And I'm the only one ever to survive a curse from Voldemort. Big deal. What makes you think you deserve them?"

"They are mine by _right_!"

Harry glared at her. She really wasn't endearing herself to him. "Well, _I_ bled for them. I paid for them! I've risked by life and my _sanity _for them! And there's **_no way_** I'm going just going to give them to you!"

A ghost of a nasty smile played on Lee's lips. "So you don't deny having the Cards."

He gave her a level stare. "I am the Card Captor, and there's no way I'm just going to hand you my charge."

The nasty look went up a notch, becoming less of a ghost. "You have no idea what you have. If you insist on this, your death is all but assured. Aren't you satisfied with your legend? The Boy-Who-Lived, the one who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, savior of the English wizarding world. Must you add another title for yourself? Must you become the Master of the Cards? You are not worthy of the position!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't care," Harry said, tugging on the key and getting it to move closer to him. "But the Key and the Cards stay with _me_."

Impasse. Neither moved, both not wanting to look away

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Upstairs, in the Gryffindor third-year's dorm, Kero was relaxing. That Ron kid had finally left, muttering something about the wicked. That left Kero all alone in the room, which he was taking advantage of. Currently, he was reading a paperback book- Harry had referred to it as either a graphic novel or a manga- about a ten year-old wizard who taught at a Muggle school that was nearly as whacked out as Hogwarts. That librarian girl was pretty cute...

Blinking, Kero looked up from his book, head tilted to the side. He could have sworn...

It came again, stronger this time, and the Sun Guardian was torn between sighing in resignation and swearing a blue streak. On the one hand, he knew they would start encountering Clow Cards again eventually. On the other, he wondered if some cosmic, all-powerful being- or maybe just the ghost of Clow- was playing a joke on them. Of all the Cards that could have activated, why did it have to be _him?_ The guy was unpredictable, and coupled with his power made him more dangerous than the other Cards who, with notable exceptions, were usually levelheaded.

Granted, nearly all of them were weirdoes, but _levelheaded_ weirdoes...

Sighing, he carefully put away his reading material- Harry might be mad at him for the food thing, but that was tame compared to what would happen if Kero wasn't careful with his books- and flew out the window, searching for his charge...

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The hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickled a split second before his magic senses screamed _'CLOW CARD!'_. That was all the warning he had before _something_ bound threw the window next to them with a crackle of electricity and a whiff of ozone.

Harry barely managed to jump back as the Clow Card landed, for it _was_ a Clow Card, unless Hagrid had been fooling around with illegal creature traders again. It was four-legged, and it's head looked like a cross between a big cat and a wolf's. Its limbs were slender, with oddly curved claws that looked like fangs. Thorn-like spikes on either side of its head gave an impression of a mane. Strange flame-esque bursts rippled across its body, which was white with highlights of electric blue.

The familiar rush of adrenaline started to course thru his body as his heartbeat went up to notch entitled 'In dire danger of loss of life via Quidditch or misadventure', with the add-on 'and Clow Cards' appended to it. Lee's grip had loosened a split second before the Clow Card had appeared, allowing him to get free, Key still in hand. He thanked his lucky stars- and amended that when he remembered Trelawney- that he had the reflexes he did, otherwise he was a dead man. All that running away from Dudley and his gang looked to be finally being good for something.

Growling, the Clow Card turned to face Harry, who gulped.

On the other hand, he'd better hope he was still as good at outrunning as he used to be.

Turning around, he ran as if the hoards of Voldemort were after him, the Card only a split second behind and hot on his heels.

Behind them, the girl blinked as she looked at their retreating backs as they disappeared around a corner. With an irritated look, she began to jog after them, reaching into her robes as she did so...

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There's a saying. It can't claim to be old, but since it's said, it can be considered a saying.

Luck protects fools, small children, and the main protagonist of stories. Exceptions include Shakespearean characters, soap opera characters, Urashima Keitaro, Ranma Saotome near any body of water, and Archie Andrews.

Hence it was pure luck that Harry ducked just as a bolt of electricity nearly took off his head. Glancing over his shoulder, Harry felt as if he flew two feet forward when he saw the Clow Card mere inches behind him. Quickly, he summoned the Sealing Wand, muttering the incantation under his breath. He breathed a sigh of relief as it lengthened, glad that it worked even though he hadn't said the words that loud.

Spotting a side corridor ahead, Harry made a quick right turn. He sighed relief when he heard the Clow Card overshoot. Quickly, he pulled out his Clow Cards, taking advantage of the breather and appreciating the fact that it was still too early for anyone to be anywhere else in the castle but their dorm or the Great Hall. He fanned the Cards before him, trying to think of which could be useful.

The 'feeling' of the Clow Card made his decision for him. Drawing The Dash Card, he activated it, again merely muttering the incantation. The Card dissolved and energy began to course through his legs.

This time, Harry kept decently ahead of the Clow Card. Heck, if he wanted to, he could have outrun it and left it eating his dust. Unfortunately for Harry, merely running away was not an option. He was the Card Captor, after all, and that meant he had to catch this thing.

"ANSWER MY CALL! FIRE!"

A burst of fire erupted behind the Clow Card, blasting it and causing it to stop, roaring as it turned around. Harry did so as well, as soon as he deemed it safe to stop and turn around. He wondered what spell that was. It didn't sound like any spell he knew.

Leaning so he could look around the Clow Card, his eyes widened. At the other end of the hallway stood Lee. She was holding a sword in front of her, parallel to the ground, edge down. One palm rested on the flat of the blade. The sword itself was a bit unusual, although Harry's only experience with swords came from the time last year, when he had pulled out Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat, and from anime, and in his opinion, it was a toss-up over who's sword was cooler, Fuu Hououji's, Lantis's, Haru Glory's, Goury Gabriev's or Squall Leonhart's (yes, he knew Squall's was technically called a gunblade, but it was still WAY FRICKIN COOL!). The blade was wide, as wide as her palm, the hilt looked like Fuu's except cut in half, and attached to pommel was a tassel with a bead at the end. It was obvious from the way she stood and the look on her face that the fire was her doing.

Apparently, the Clow Card thought so too. With a growl, it stared to stalk toward her, seemingly forgetting about Harry. Quickly, Harry seized the moment. Pulling out The Windy Card, Harry felt nervous jolt as The Dash Card's effects left his body. Oh well, it couldn't be helped. "Clow Card, show me your true power! WINDY CARD!"

The air around Harry picked up, becoming a strong breeze as the yellow sprite of the Windy Card appeared. "Capture him," Harry said, gesturing at the as-yet-unnamed Clow Card between him and Lee.

The Windy Card raised an eyebrow, and her lips twitched slightly. "Isn't that your job?" she said, but did as she was told, sending yellow streams of magical wind at it.

Harry blinked. Now besides everything else, she was suddenly a comedian? What next?

The bands of magical wind reached for the beast, yet before they got there, Harry realized there was a problem. The minute they appeared, the breeze in the hallway had increased to hurricane force, nearly knocking Harry over and buffeting the target. Tapestries- thankfully mainly of animals or landscapes- fluttered violently, threatening to fall off their moorings. "Stop, stop!"

The Windy Card lowered her arms, giving him a slightly annoyed, slightly bemused look. "Will you make up your mind?"

"Change back," Harry said, taking another Card. The Windy Card shrugged.

"You're the boss," she said, before pouncing on him- so to speak- capturing his lips with hers and kissing him hotly, her tongue in before her mouth even made contact, not letting go until she had completely dissolved back into her Card form.

Harry, thankfully, only froze for a split second as his mind reminded him why he blushed so vividly whenever he so much as _thought _of the Cards. Recovering quickly- he felt he was getting used to this; was that a good thing?- he took out the Earthy Card, reminding himself of the consequences of using it. Thankfully, the Card he was Capturing had been between him and Lee, so she hadn't seen anything. He wanted his private embarrassment kept private, thank you very much!

Before he could active the Card, however, there was a cry, and Lee launched herself at the Clow Card in front of her, slashing at it with her sword. She missed, but that didn't deter her. She just kept at it. Swing and miss, swing and miss, again and again…

It wasn't that she was doing it wrong, or even badly. On the contrary. Even though Harry was no real expert, having had all his experience with swords- with the exception of the Basilisk incidence- and swordsmen from anime, he could see that Lee knew what she was doing. There was no wasted motion, all her movements were smooth and economical, and her feet moved as much as her hands.

Good as she was, fast as she was, the Card was faster however, and Harry knew it was only a matter of time before it eviscerated her.

Also, they were getting closer to him, and Harry figured that wouldn't be good for his health.

Harry raised the Card in his hand before him and repeated what he had said. "Clow Card, show me your true power! EARTHY CARD!" In a burst of power, a tracing of Clow Reed's symbol beneath Harry's feet, and a swirl of magic threads, The Earthy Card appeared.

"Let's try this again," Harry muttered, pointing at the Clow Card Lee was fighting. "Bind him! But don't trap the girl."

The Earthy Card nodded, raising her arms in that oh-so-common gesture. Dust began to shoot from her hands, quickly congealing into small pebbles, then rock, until, when they finally reached their target, they had become arms of pure stone. They encircled the Card as he dodged one of Lee's strikes, covering first his limbs, then the rest of him, and quickly covering him in a layer of solid rock until only his head was visible, roaring defiance in vain, pulling him towards Harry. Lee had stepped back after her last failed attack, her sword raised in front of her, her eyes widening when she saw what had happened to her target.

Harry grinned at her reaction. Apparently, she didn't know as much about the Clow Cards as she'd like him to think. He raised the Sealing Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor and it order you to return to your true form! Um-"

"Thunder Card," Earthy muttered out of the corner of her mouth, just loud enough for Harry to hear, an amused look in her eyes and a slight twist in her mouth.

"Thanks," he answered back the same way. "Thunder Card!" he finished, bringing down his wand.

A decent lightshow later, and Harry was holding a new Card in his hand. Grinning, he made to tuck it in with the rest.

"No!" Lee yelled, striding towards him, one hand outstretched as if intending to take the Card from his hands, the sword held in her other. "The Cards are MINE!"

Harry moved a little bit behind The Earthy Card, wary of the blade, but he need not worry. With a wave of her hand and a burst of magic, a low barrier rose between Harry and Lee. The message was clear: come no closer.

Harry, meanwhile, had had enough of this girl. "Yours? Why don't we leave that up to them. Earthy, do you want to go with this girl?"

Earthy's mouth twisted. "Not a chance."

Harry turned back to Lee, who was looking at the Card sprite in surprise. "See? For all your claims, you know _nothing_ about the Cards! They're not things, they're beings to themselves. And I really don't think they want to go with you." The Earthy Card nodded in agreement.

Lee stared at him for a long moment. "Maybe you do have what it takes, Potter. But mark my words. On the Final Judgment, _I _will stand as the Mistress of the Cards."

Abruptly, she tuned around, sword still in hand, and strode down the corridor. Turning the corner, she disappeared from sight.

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Harry sighed in relief as the Slytherin girl went away. They were alone in the corridor. He turned towards The Earthy Card. "Thanks for standing by me."

The Earthy Card nodded as she dissolved away the remnants of the encounter. "It was nothing, Master Harry."

Harry paused. "You know, I'm not forcing you. You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to."

The Earthy Card looked at him and chuckled slightly. "But we _do_ want to be with you. You are the chosen Card Captor, but not only that, we _want_ to. Even Time and Shot. Shot is already raving about how powerful you are, and can't wait for you to call on him."

Harry blinked. "That's what you all really think?"

Earthy nodded. "All of us are behind you. You're a good Master, and you care about us. Different from Master Clow, sure, but we don't expect you to be him." For a moment, her voice became wistful. "Besides," and she leaned close, whispering into his ear, "you're pretty cute."

Harry only had time for a shiver to pass through him before she kissed his cheek, inhaling deeply, sensuously, before moving on to the other and doing it again. She gave him one more smile, that smile he was beginning to think all the female Clow Cards knew, that enigmatic Mona Lisa smile, before she dissolved back into her Card form.

Harry caught her Card, tucking it in with the rest, his face red as usual. Tentatively, he raised a hand to his flaming cheek, his mouth opening slightly as he did so. Then, shaking his head, he turned around and started walking back in the general direction of Gryffindor Tower.

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In the empty hallway, now devoid of life, Clow Cards and magical boys and girls, a door stood ajar. From inside, a light scratching noise could just be heard…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: And the score is: Harry, 13; Fei, 0

Harry's Cards so far: Windy, Jump, Dash, Mirror, Shadow, Earthy, Flower, Wood, Shot, Time, Dark, Light and Thunder.

Fei's Cards: ixnay, nada, none, nothing, nobody home, null, zero, zilch, zip. No Cards. XD

A bit plain-vanilla-Capture-the-Card, but I feel there are enough other stuff to make up for it. Still, I'll try to do better. At least it's long. And I know that the Cards never spoke to Sakura much in the anime- as I recall, it was only The Mirror, The Light, The Dark and the Sealed Card who spoke to her, but I might be wrong- but here, I think it's more interesting if the Cards talk to Harry.

Yes, I know I announced who the rival was, but I had to set things up for Harry. The build-up was necessary.

Ugh. Well, I knew I would have to write about Dorco Malfeasant eventually (check the dictionary to get an idea what 'malfeasant', derived from 'malfeasance', means).

My, my, a lot of people get transferred to Hogwarts in fics, don't they?

So what do you guys think of the rival? To paraphrase something Ron said in book six, "there's no rule saying only one person at a time can be fighting with Harry in this place.". I have this _wonderful_ little dynamic planned out, but any suggestions would help. I don't promise to take it, though. No slash suggestions please, I'm sticking to canon. The Clow Card girls? They don't count. I just put them in those situations for laughs.

Okay, there will be slash if I feel like it, but I hope you guys can take lesbians. XD

The following is Fei's bio, what little I've thought up. And just to confirm, no, you guys didn't miss an episode of CCS, and yes, she _is_ OC.

Name: Fei Lee (English convention)

Age: 13

House: Slytherin (Be honest. Who saw _that_ coming?)

Gear: wand, ofuda, Rashin (?) board, Sword (the one Syaoran uses. Can someone give me info on that? I'm not sure I got it right. What does he yell out when he uses his ofuda? I think he has at least three different ones, but I'm not sure. I think I got it wrong in this fic.)

Info: sorceress from Hong Kong. A descendant of Clow Reed, she was sent to Hogwarts when her aunt felt the Clow Cards awaken. Believing that the Clow Cards are rightfully hers, she intends to become the Mistress of the Cards. Likes Arithmancy. Sound familiar?

If you want a clearer idea of what Fei looks like, think of a female Syaoran with slightly long hair at the nape of her neck (but nowhere else!), with Meiling's red eyes. It would be too hard to think of any other image, and it underlies the CCS connection.

Her personality will be as much like Syaoran as possible, slightly tweaked, of course. My memories of him aren't _too _fuzzy. Any Syaoran psych bits would be appreciated, though.

Why name her Fei? I got the name from **_Negima!_** It sounded nice, so I used it. I have _no_ idea what it means. :)

About the thestrals, my reasoning is this: Hagrid said that the only ones who can see thestrals are those who have seen death. Harry was there when his parents were killed, but in canon, he doesn't remember it, so it took Diggory's death to make him see thestrals. Here, however, he managed to drudge up the memory of his parents' deaths last chap, so he now remembers it and therefore qualifies as having 'seen death'. So he can see the thestrals. Simple, isn't it? He isn't freaked out because this is the first time he's taking the coaches, and thinks that Ron and Hermione can see them as well.

Why is Harry so jaded? Um, I'm making a reasonable assumption of how a long time anime viewer, who also happens to be a wizard, and was chosen to be the Card Captor not four days ago, would react. Really, fewer things surprise Harry every year, unless it's a cultural or psychological thing. This jading is a reasonable characteristic. And we can also lump in shock because of the emotional roller coaster the past week has been.

I refuse to believe Harry only got his first crush at the age of fourteen with Cho Chang! He's more human than that!

Ron and Hermione, OC? Maybe a little, but Hermione certainly has her fun side, and Ron is… well, Ron.

The graphic novel/manga Kero is reading is **_Magister Negi Magi_**, or **_Negima!_**, specifically, volume two, my favorite when it comes to funny. What, you think brooms and weird magic books are the only thing Harry would lust over and buy?

The saying was inspired by an old Shaun Garin fic, which can be found somewhere on his personal website. I really admire the guy as a writer. The man sure knows how to do funny.

Can someone please tell me what Syaoran really says when he uses his elemental Ofuda in the original anime? I only know the fire and lightning attacks, and I'm sure I'm wrong, as the subtitled (and now lost -_sob-_) copy of the second movie I have doesn't say, and I've had to play it by ear.

I might have to go back on what I said about Syaoran not showing up. I had a brainwave recently, which suggested a way I could introduce him and the CCS gang without having them loose their individuality or having them 'take over the world', so to speak, as Mage-Alia once put it. It's something I hate to see in a crossover; one series completely dominates the other. Really ruins it for fans of the other series. For me, who's a fan of a lot, and usually of both series in the crossover, it's heartbreaking to see characters plucked out of their environment and become completely adrift in another series. -_ends rant_-

To **Ran Hoshino:** Thanks for the Eriol test info. I agree, 'Harry Cards' sound horrible. So far, I'm thinking 'Wild Cards' (he _is_ the wild card in the books), 'Lightning Cards' (after his scar), or 'Sprite Cards' (after the Cards' nature). Can you think of other alternatives? And as for Snape, I'm thinking of having the Cards hate his guts. What do you think? And yes, no crush on Cho Chang (though Cho to Harry is another matter entirely.) Harry's thoughts about women are messed up already as they are. XD

To **Mage-Alia:** Thanks for the review. Don't worry, next time, I'll draw up a nicer mental picture.

To **Pakerin Pyros:** Ooohhh, a new reviewer! Great to hear from you! If you want to find out what Cards, look page up and keeping reading this series. Harry will deal with the Dementors as canon, with maybe a little Card help, but no attempts to destroy them (not yet, anyway). I plan to make the Cards sneakier than they were in CCS, but some of them are perfectly dangerous as they are. I have, however, thought of a really nasty Card combo, which I'll unveil in two or three chaps. Watch for it. And to clarify, Harry and Mirror _only_ slept in the same bed. Nothing happened!

To **nefer tenshi:** Why, thank you… (see, I can be laconic too…)

To **Warbl65:** What_ever_ gave you that idea? -_snicker_-Am not going to say just yet, but those of you who watch CCS will be able to figure it out yourselves with no help from me. If you do, don't leave the info lying around the review board, it'll make it too easy for the others. Sadistic, ain't I?

To **Katy Crumb/Nova: **regarding your e-mail, yes, I would be honored if you did so. Just direct them to the ff dot net version so they can put in reviews, 'kay?

Next chap (might take a while, though, probably even 'til mid-October. I have finals and junk coming up): the Card Captor-Lee dynamic really kicks off. Fei gets more appearances. Personally, I think this is what Sakura and Syaoran would have been like if she had more backbone, or at least as confident as Meilin. Another single-carder, but it will have funny bits. And until further notice, Harry will refer to her as 'Lee', since a) they don't seem to mind calling each other by their last name in Hogwarts, and b) she hasn't given him permission to call her by name yet. I'm dropping the honorifics, as I have no idea if Japanese honorifics apply to a Chinese girl, even if the original anime was Japanese. Enjoy!

Please review, C&C welcome. If you don't know how, all you have to do is click that little button to the left that says 'Go'.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

Oh, yeah, I need help. When Harry becomes the Master of the Cards- when, not if- what do his Cards and the Book become called? For some reason, I am faintly turned off by the idea of calling them the Harry Cards and the Harry Book. No pizzazz, if you get what I mean. I have some weird thoughts of calling them Wild Cards, since Harry _is _sort of a wild card, but other suggestions would be nice. Unless you guys really _do_ what to hear them called the Harry Cards. –_UGH!_–

(Dang, I make long author notes… is it just me or are they getting longer?)


	7. Fists of Fury

A/N: AH! After the catharsis that were "Harry Potter: Raven" and "Card Captor Sasuke", it's back to this little number. Don't worry, HP: R will be continued, CC Sasuke won't. I also now understand the reason why updates of good fics take so long. Real life and writer's block are such pains.

And now, on with the show!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 7, The Jump: Fists Of Fury

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me. Since she's OC, however, does Fei Lee belong to me?

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"Harry!"

Harry turned, looking around in confusion as he surveyed the empty corridor he was in. His name had to be called a second time before he recognized the voice and where it was coming from. When he did, he headed for the nearest window, glad the hallway was empty. "Kero? What are you doing out of the dorm room? Did anyone see you?"

"We don't have time to worry about that!" Kero said, and Harry's eyebrows decided to try climbing up his scalp. Kero, not obsessed over secrecy? Harry checked the skies. No meteorites seemed on their way to wipe out all life one Earth, although he didn't know if anyone was on their way to Antarctica to start Second Impact, and he had no way of knowing if it was snowing in aitch-ee-double-hockey-sticks, so Harry just hoped it wasn't the End Of The World. Boy, wouldn't _that_ stink.

Kero continued. "There's a Clow Card active in Hogwarts! You have to catch it before it draws any attention!"

That got Harry's attention. Having just gotten out of one encounter of the Clow Card kind, he really didn't think he could handle another. It wasn't even lunch yet! Give a guy a break!

Harry was just about to open his mouth when a thought occurred to him, and he changed what he was about to say. "What Card are we talking about here?"

"It's one of the more excitable ones," Kero said, darting his head from side to side as if looking for it. "With Master Clow, it was always well-behaved, but it tended to be rowdy away from him. And that's not counting its powers! We have to find The Thunder Card before- **what the heck are _you_ smiling about?**

Resisting the urge to sigh in relief, Harry reached into his robe and pulled out his latest acquisition. He held it in front of Kero.

The Sun Guardian blinked, looking up and down at the Card several times. "Oh," he said. Harry fought the urge to look more smug.

Kero took a deep breath, then stopped, sniffing the air. "Are those blueberry muffins I smell?"

Harry reached into another pocket and pulled out one of said pastries, looking none the worse for wear after his little mad dash. "Here. Knock yourself out."

"YATTA!" Kero exclaimed as he took a big bite that consumed nearly the whole top part of the muffin, before he swallowed it whole. "Got any more?"

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A little while later, in an empty classroom, Kero sat on top of a desk, slowly eating the last of the muffins as Harry stood, looking out the window and absently wiping some crumbs off his front. Harry had relayed to Kero what had happened to him. Kero had been particularly interested about the fact Lee had claimed to be a descendant of Clow, although he hadn't acted very surprised. When asked, Kero had just smiled widely and said Clow had been _very _well liked by women, his tone implying exactly _how_ he was well liked. Harry had promptly dropped the subject, although he had wondered if that was where the Clow Card girls got their attitude. Needless to say, it was likely this girl was exactly who and what she claimed to be. Although Harry found it slightly disturbing to think that Clow had been Nagi Springfield, Thousand Master-esque.

That didn't mean, Kero had clarified, that Harry had to give her the Cards. In fact, Kero was violently against it. _He_ was the his chosen Card Captor, darn it! No little upstart was going to change that!

Harry had agreed, if for different reasons. Old instincts came to the fore. She was a Slytherin. He was a Gryffindor. That meant war! Simple as that. Plus, her attitude reminded him strongly of Malfoy, and reminding Harry of Malfoy wasn't the way to endear yourself to him. Still, Kero cautioned him, he should be careful, as they had no way of knowing whether she would divulge their secret to anyone.

Harry sighed. "Guess I'd better go to lunch. I've got a _ton _of homework to do."

"Yeah," Kero said, drifting towards the window. "Better head back to the dorm. I wanna know how the Baka Rangers get out of the library island."

"Be careful!" Harry said, opening the door of the classroom. "Don't fold the pages! And don't get it dog-eared! And hold it right so the spine doesn't get creased-"

"Yeah, yeah!" Kero said before he flew off.

Harry shook his head, completely oblivious to his Hermione-esque reaction.

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Harry headed for the library, knowing Hermione would be just about to wrap up her morning cram session. Indeed, she _was _there, checking out a bunch of two-inch thick books for 'light reading'. Nearby, Ron was shuffling impatiently, anxious to get to lunch.

"Hey," Harry greeted quietly, not wanting to get kicked out of the library. Idly, he wondered if there was a risk of Hermione developing a hunch from carrying so many books. The one time he'd offered to carry Hermione's books for her, he'd dropped them on his foot and broken two of his toes. Hermione, on the other hand, carried them around like they weighed a fraction of their weight. Although it wasn't obvious, Hermione was freakishly strong. Harry pegged her to be about Akane, or even Tsunade, level. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but still, her right hook was a force to be reckoned with. Ron really had no idea how lucky he was that she wasn't the hitting kind. If she'd hit him during any of their spats, Harry was fairly sure he'd get a concussion.

Ron waved in greeting as Hermione finished checking out her books. Slinging her book bag over her shoulder, she acknowledged Harry as well. Harry had to hand it to her, she barely slumped at all under the weight of what must have amounted to about three feet thick worth of books.

The trio made their way out of the library. "Why weren't you at breakfast?" Hermione asked. "You're usually waiting for us while you try to eat the table."

"I met that Lee girl," Harry said, not mentioning where in an attempt to evade the question.

"You did?" Ron exclaimed right away. "What's she like?"

"She's..." Harry paused, considering. "Slytherin to the bone. "

"She can't be that bad," Ron said, sounding slightly pleading.

Harry looked at him. "Why don't you see for yourself."

Fate, or at least some omnipotent being, seemed willing to let that happen, because Lee was in the Entrance Hall when they entered. Ron made as if to fix his hair but stopped when he saw who she was with. Lee was talking to Malfoy, who was almost preening. With him, as usual, was Crabbe and Goyle.

"I've changed my mind," Ron said, looking disgruntled. "I don't think I want to know anyone who'd talk to Malfoy."

"Smart lad," George said, suddenly popping up to Ron's left.

"Any girl who'd talk to Malfoy isn't worth wasting time over," Fred said from his sudden position to Harry's right.

"You guys got dumped, huh?" Harry said.

Hermione giggled as Ron laughed outright, earning him a look that promised revenge. Gulping, he smiled disarmingly, but that fainted when their evil looks didn't disappear.

Passing Malfoy, Harry wasn't surprised when the- probably inbred- boy suddenly said, "The Dementors will get you, Potter!" accompanied by the laughter of some nearby Slytherin cronies.

"Ignore him," Hermione whispered, as the three Weasleys gave the guy dirty looks.

And he did. What he couldn't ignore was Lee stepping into his path. He fought the urge to raise his arm and wrap his hand protectively around either the Key or the Cards.

"Potter," Lee said, looking down on him somehow, even though they were the same height. And the way she said his name... Once, Harry thought Malfoy had been taught from birth how to say someone's name so it was obvious that he thought he was superior and you were inferior. He was wrong. Malfoy was a rank amateur. _This_ girl had been taught from birth.

"Lee," he said, slightly challenging. He desperately hoped she wasn't going to bring up the Clow Cards _here_, of all places.

Fortunately, she had something else in mind.

Unfortunately, she had something else in mind.

Looking at him up and down again, her lip twisted. "The Boy-Who-Lived. You seem... shorter, in person. Chibi."

Harry bristled, although nearly everyone but Hermione seemed confused. **_Chibi?_** He was average height, not _chibi_!

"I'm surprised a boy like you would notice things like that," he said, causing Hermione, Ron and the twins to stare at him. Malfoy was one thing, but the new girl?

A nasty smile appeared on Lee's face. "I'm more boy than you are."

"Good for you. Congratulations on getting into Slytherin, by the way. It must remind you of every bar and whorehouse you've ever worked in."

Things quickly took off from there.

----------------------------------------

"Really, Harry, you should apologize," Hermione said later.

"She started it, and you heard the things she said about me! Besides, I don't apologize to Slytherins," Harry said, looking serious, but eventually grinning. "It is not my Wizard Way."

Ron looked between the two in confusion, as Hermione rolled her eyes, muttering about crazy anime addicts.

"You and your Naruto," she said under her breath.

"_This_ from the girl who sleeps with Kakashi and Sasuke plushies," Harry retorted.

"What are you two _talking_ about?" Ron finally said.

"Muggle things, Ron," Harry said as he watched Hermione blush. Ah, life was good.

The encounter with Lee, however, had _not_ been good. It had quickly degenerated into an almost-shouting match. The insults flung between the two were soon highly acidic and even poisonous, such that, had they been potions, no cauldron on Earth could have held them. The two had almost literally been almost-shouting in each other's faces. Their housemates had held them back, as if afraid they would start getting physical. This, of course, attracted quite a crowd. They only broke up when someone yelled that a professor was coming. As if on cue, he and Lee had both turned perfect one eighties and walked in opposite directions, him towards the Great Hall, she towards the dungeons. When a professor finally _did_ arrive, both perpetrators were gone and none of the witnesses were willing to talk.

In the days to come, things fell into a sort of routine, much as they do in all schools. Come morning, noon or night, if Harry or Lee came within a hallway of each other, the result was memorable. Malfoy was almost always ignored in favor of Lee. When the blond pureblood tried to insert his own snide remarks, all he got was a stereo "BACK OFF BLONDIE!". When he insisted, both Harry and Lee pointed their wands and blasted him away without even looking at him and not even pausing in their almost-shouting match. After a while, he learned to stay away and just watch the fireworks. He wasn't the only one. Harry and Lee's matches had rather large audiences whenever they broke out, and many carried notebooks to record their insults, which were all very nasty and original, for later use. Because it was very entertaining- if you weren't stupid enough to butt-in- none of the students wanted it stopped, so they all were very willing to give warning if one of the professors or Percy- who broke the record for being Hogwarts' biggest prat of a Head Boy- happened to be approaching. Even the other prefects were in on it. When they were separated, they both acted like nothing had happened, completely ignoring the money being passed around as bets were paid off concerning their bashing-skills.

For Harry and Lee, however, those shouting matches were their only outlets against each other. Both had their own reasons for disliking each other, which had been magnified during their first and second encounters. Lee disliked the fact she had competition for the Clow Cards. Harry disliked the fact she had tried to take his Cards away from him. It didn't help that neither had made a good first- or second-impression on the other. Yet both couldn't help but respect the other as well. Lee, because of the boy's will, and Harry, because of her determination. Granted, it was grudging, nearly non-existent, both-would-rather-die-than-admit-it, but it was there. You just had to dig down to a depth about equal to the distance to the center of the Earth…

----------------------------------------

When Harry, Ron and Hermione came down to breakfast one morning a few days after the very memorable public meeting, they found the Great Hall almost literally buzzing with talk.

Ron turned to Harry. "You and Lee didn't by any chance have a 'chat' you didn't tell us about, did you?"

Harry shook his head. "Unless I'm doing it in my sleep."

They made their way to their usual places at the Gryffindor table, Harry very ready to pack in nearly half his body weight.

"Did you hear?" Dean said as they sat down.

"Uh, no?" Ron said as Harry began to pile food on his plate.

"Someone found Blaise Zabini unconscious in a corridor this morning. He was really beat up. They sent him to St. Mungo's for treatment."

"Blaise is that Slytherin kid, right?" Ron said. "Well, no big loss."

"RON!" Hermione said. "How can you be so insensitive?"

"Easy," Ron said. "He's a Slytherin."

All day, all anyone was able to talk about was Blaise. The school made a general proclamation for anyone who had any information to come forward. Most students seem to agree with Ron, however. It was a Slytherin; good riddance.

Then, a Hufflepuff sixth year was found in the same hallway, unconscious and as beat up. That killed the mood. A Slytherin was one thing; any one of them deserved a beating. A Hufflepuff, however... that was like kicking a puppy, no matter what year. One morning, three Ravenclaw second years were found there. They were the house weirdoes who insisted on calling themselves Team Seven, with the girl even dying her hair pink. Their toy _kunai_ and _shuriken_ had been found with them, some broken.

That opened the floodgates. First years were suddenly moving in groups together, reminding Harry of last year, during the Chamber of Secrets incident. Defensive and offensive spells suddenly became _very_ fashionable. People seldom traveled alone, and no one, not even the Weasley twins, would leave their Houses at night.

No one was attacked for three days, and people started breathing easier. Then a burly Gryffindor fifth year was found beaten, in broad daylight. The group of first years who found him said they heard someone running from the scene. That was when things really hit the fan...

----------------------------------------

The first thing Harry did when he got to the common room was wait for Ron and Hermione. Like the rest of the school, he didn't go anywhere alone anymore. It was too dangerous. Teachers were supposedly patrolling the hallways at night, and there was talk of them doing it during the day if another attack happened. Heck, there was talk of closing the _school_, although no one took that seriously.

All in all, it was giving Harry a weird sense of déjà vu, ala 'Chamber of Secrets'.

"Finally," Harry muttered as Ron and Hermione came downstairs. Wordlessly, the three of them headed down for breakfast. Well, wordlessly for the moment.

"I'm surprised whoever's doing this hasn't been caught yet," Hermione said. There was no need to say who. Only one topic of conversation reigned these days.

"I'm not," Harry said. "They didn't exactly catch the basilisk now, did they, and that was a giant snake!"

"I guess," Hermione said glumly. "But who'd do something like this? I mean, beating up students for fun?"

"Makes about as much sense as putting a giant snake-monster in a secret basement just to kill off muggle-borns," Ron said.

Conversation continued in that vein as they walked towards the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione discreetly kept an eye out for Lee, much to Harry's amusement. Although they liked watching bash Lee as much as the next student, they tried to keep it from happening during the mornings because, since they tended to oversleep, if one happened in the morning, they had a choice of watching it but not getting breakfast or eating breakfast but not getting to watch. A very tough choice.

A girl caught his eye, however, and it wasn't the Chinese Slytherin. Breaking into a faster walk, bordering on a run, Harry was able to stop Winter from walking off the stairs into empty air just in time.

Winter blinked and looked down, seeing her foot extended and about to take a very dangerous step. She groaned. "Not again."

"No harm done," Harry said, taking his hand reluctantly off her shoulder as Ron and Hermione caught up, each wearing a mild smirk, which they barely managed to conceal. He knew he was going to get reamed for this later, but what the hey. "Although you really should start watching where you're going."

Winter blushed slightly. "That's what everyone keeps telling me. I just couldn't help it! My neighbor just sent me these new printouts-" she indicated the _very_ thick stack of computer paper she was carrying, each page crammed with very small lettering, "- and I just _had_ to read it. There's this Naruto fic I was following over the summer that just got new updates, and I just couldn't stop myself!"

"Well, that's no reason to walk blind," Harry said, smiling and trying to stop the urge to make the smile goofier. "Especially since no one here knows how to do healing spells, much less healing _jutsu_."

Winter laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Well, thanks for stopping me. Be seeing you, Harry!"

Waving, she walked down the stairs, looking where she was going this time. As she disappeared into the crowd, Harry felt his control slip, and his smile promptly went goofy.

"Ah, love is certainly in the air, Hermione," Ron said, his smirk no longer repressed, his tone matching his expression.

"Indeed it is, Ron," Hermione said, her face mirroring his, and they both snickered.

Harry blushed, but managed to growl out, "Buzz off you two!"

They just laughed. No matter how much they sometimes argued and didn't talk to each other, at heart they were still Weasley and Granger, partners in crime. And this crime did pay.

----------------------------------------

Harry sighed as they walked towards the Great Hall for lunch. The morning had been murder, and the homework their teachers had assigned to top it all off wasn't going to help. Behind him, he felt a telltale burst of some magic, followed by Hermione disappearing, only to reappear farther away and trying to catch up with them stealthily. He didn't bother turning around. Since that first Divination lesson, he knew that Hermione was using some kind of magic or magical object to get to her classes without telling him or Ron. It had been child's play to detect it with his magic sense, and the first time it had happened, he had turned around and found Hermione back in the bottom of the stairs. In the days that had followed, his sense had become peculiar, 'feeling' Hermione in two places at once, although one usually disappeared. He had no idea what was causing this, but he didn't pry. A little voice in his head said that if _he_ wasn't going to be honest and tell them about the Clow Cards, then he had no right to confront Hermione about whatever it was she was using. It was her business.

Still, the bursts of magic felt vaguely familiar for some reason…

He ignored Ron's exclamation of "Where did you go?" as Hermione rejoined them, along with her lie of "Oh, I left my books". She _never_ left her books, being almost surgically grafted to them.

Joining a group of students walking in the same direction, they neared the hallway where most of the beat- up students had been found. Everyone in the group slowed, crowding closer together. None wanted to be the 'one left behind', the one in movies that gets attacked because they're last in line. As they passed the hallway on their way to the Great Hall, Harry felt something.

"Harry, where are you going?" Ron said as Harry broke off from the group, going towards the hallway.

"I thought I heard something," Harry lied as he broke into a run.

"Harry! Wait!" Hermione cried. From the sound of it, she was trying to bully Ron into coming with her to follow Harry.

Harry ignored them, racing towards the feeling. Suddenly, his foot caught on something and he tripped. Raising his hands to break his fall, he landed on a warm body. Hearing footsteps, he looked up, not seeing anyone. The footsteps gradually faded as he tried to stand up.

Looking down to see what had tripped him, his breath caught. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all unconscious in the hallway. Malfoy was sporting a black eye, and there was a cut on his face where it had struck the floor. His 'broken' arm was twisted under him, and Harry hoped it was still broken. The other two were in worse shape. Their faces looked like blueberries, and there were cuts on their arms. Blood coated a nearby doorknob, as well as some other sharp-ish edges nearby.

For a moment, Harry _really_ wished he had a camera.

"Ron, Hermione, call the teachers," he yelled. "Malfoy and his goons have been attacked!"

Standing up, he looked over in the direction the footsteps had faded…

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Harry managed to convince the teachers that, as much as he hated, loathed, was disgusted by, reviled, detested (you get the idea) Malfoy, he was _not_ the one who attacked them, despite Snape's accusations. This was helped by the fact that he had a whole bunch of students as witnesses, not all from Gryffindor, including a Slytherin first-year who was still relatively uncorrupted, who could testify to his innocence, so there was no way he could have set it up. Still, Snape tried to pin something on him, although all he managed was to ask why Harry had heard something when no one else in the group had. At this, Harry had replied the noise had been really low, and that he hadn't really been sure he had heard anything, and if he _was_ in league with whoever did this, wouldn't _he_ be the one who would have beat up Malfoy, as he would have enjoyed it more?

Eventually, Dumbledore let him go, and he headed to dinner with McGonagall as his escort. The afternoon classes had been cancelled, and students had been sent to their dormitories to eat. The whole school was abuzz with the news, so it wasn't surprising when he was immediately crowded as he stepped into the common room. Fending them off, he managed to eat before runni- er, retiring to his dormitory, where he found Ron waiting.

"Well?" Ron said. "What really happened?"

Harry shrugged. "Just what I said. I thought I heard a sound, so I went to check it out, in case someone was getting beat up. They were. Good thing it was just Malfoy and his goons."

Ron blinked. "Oh. I thought there was something you weren't telling me."

Harry managed a hurt look. "You were there, Ron. Besides, would I lie to you?"

Ron looked sheepish. "I guess not. Anyway, I'm going down to dinner. You want anything?"

"Dessert. Lots of it," Harry said.

Ron gave him the thumbs up. "You got it," he said, before going down, leaving Harry feeling like crud.

----------------------------------------

"It was a Clow Card, Keroberos. I'm sure of it."

The minute Ron had gone downstairs, Harry had dragged out the little Sun Guardian and told him everything, including the _real_ reason he had gone down that hallway. The feel of a Clow Card was hard to mistake when you knew what it was. And _that_ was what it had been. Not a fictional sound that he had heard. He had lied to Ron.

MAN, he felt like crud.

"What kind of Clow Card would do that, Kero?" Harry mused as he lay back against his headboard, the curtains of his four-poster tightly closed. He really didn't want this conversation going public. "I mean, I like that it was nice enough to beat up Malfoy, but the other students…"

"It could be The Fight Card," Kero said, legs crossed and looking deep in thought.

Harry chewed on that. "Why?"

"The Fight Card likes to challenge martial artists, and those students might have known _something_ about fighting," Kero reasoned.

"Not enough," Harry said, remembering what the students were supposed to have looked like when they were found.

"You'd better go after it," Kero said. "Who knows how many more students might get hurt?"

Harry nodded. The same thought had crossed his mind. "Tonight. When everyone's asleep. You'd better come along, so I have back-up."

Kero grimaced. "Good idea. Being locked up here is driving me nuts."

He looked towards the general direction of the door. "Maybe you should check what's taking that Ron kid so long with the dessert's?"

Harry rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him.

----------------------------------------

Harry crept quietly down the corridor, wearing his invisibility cloak. He had to be more careful than usual. The school was crawling with prefects, teachers and ghosts on patrol, just like during the height of the Chamber of Secrets incident. Percy had been on guard at the portrait portal, so Harry had had to use The Jump Card to leap out his window, much to Kero's dismay. Really, Harry wondered, the guy could fly. What had him so scared about someone else's two hundred or so foot drop from a tower? At least the little plushy hadn't cried out.

Landing on a parapet, Harry had entered the school via another open window, and was currently making his way towards the corridor where he had found Malfoy and his goons. Idly, he wished he had that 'Hand of Glory' thing he had seen at Borgin and Burke's last year. He didn't dare light his wand, and using The Light Card was too flashy. Pausing at a corner, he let a ghost pass by. One good thing about his magic sense, he could tell if someone was coming _well_ in advance.

Eventually, he found himself in the hallway from earlier. Someone had cleaned out the blood, although he still recognized the exact spot he had tripped. Harry was about to start looking around when his eyes narrowed as his magical sense started to tingle.

There was someone else here. Only problem was, the hallway was completely empty. Kero began to tug on Harry's shirt. He felt it too.

Silently, Harry walked towards where his sense told him the thing was. It didn't feel like a ghost, but it was vaguely familiar, like a tune he didn't know the words to. He extended his hand, trying to feel the thing. His hand touched on something warm.

The next second, he found himself hard on the floor, his back in extreme pain and his head ringing from where it had struck the stone floor. His glasses were askew, although that probably wasn't why he was having trouble focusing. A hand had an iron grip on his arm, and something had a hold around his neck, yet there was nothing there. Frantically, he lashed out with his other hand, striking something solid. There was an 'oomph' of breath as he felt the hood of his invisibility cloak slipping off his head.

"Potter," a voice hissed. A familiar voice.

Kero suddenly flew out of nowhere, striking at the general area where the voice had come from, and Harry felt the grip on his arm disappear as well as the pressure on his neck. He got up, untangling himself from his now-useless cloak as he alternately massaged his arm and neck. "Lee," he managed to choke out.

Keroberos looked at him, then at the general direction of where Harry could feel Lee was. A moment later, the Slytherin girl appeared out of thin air, rubbing her jaw and glaring in fury at the little Sun Guardian.

"You know this girl?" Kero said.

"She's the one I told you about," Harry said, giving the girl that look he _used_ to reserve only for Malfoy and Snape.

"Hm," Kero said, looking back at Lee, who was getting to her feet. "You didn't tell me she had an invisibility cloak."

"I didn't know," Harry said, not taking his eyes off Lee, who was matching him glare for glare. He had to; the only part of her he could see was her head, since she was still wearing _her_ cloak.

"What the (BLEEP!) are _you_ doing here?" they both said. There was an infinitesimal pause. "I (BLEEP)-ing asked you first!"

"SHHH!" Kero shushed them. "You two want them to hear us!"

Lee gave him a scathing look. "Buzz off, plushy."

Hellfire was suddenly in Kero's eyes. "HEY! Do you have any idea who I am? I am the mighty and powerful Keroberos, Guardian of the Sun, and created by Clow Reed himself!"

Harry felt the urge to sweatdrop at Kero's rather loud declaration. Wasn't he just saying a while ago that they should be quiet?

Lee smirked. "I can't _believe_ my ancestor would make bag of hot air like you."

"WHAT!" Kero screeched, and Harry winced. No way anyone didn't hear _that_. Then his eyes widened. Something was coming...

"WHY YOU LITTLE-!" Kero was screeching when Harry hiss-shushed him to silence, grabbing for his invisibility cloak. Settling the thing back on his shoulders, he gripped his wand in one hand, the Key around his neck with the other. For a moment, he regretted collapsing it back to its compact form, but it had been a pain to climb into the window with.

"It's here..." he heard Lee murmur, causing him to blink in surprise and turn towards her, just in time to see her pull the hood of her cloak back over her head. She could feel it too...? Harry winced. There went his edge. It was one of the three things he thought he had over Lee.

They didn't have to wait long. Its speed was unbelievable. One moment, it was a long way off, the next, it was standing right in front of them. Its look was what Harry was starting to think of as the 'standard Clow Card-girl look'. Pale white, glowing skin, weird vibe, magic senses tingling, etc.

She was about Harry's height, with pale hair styled into two 'loops' on her head, with a long lock extending from each loop down to the small of her back. The Card wore Umi Ryuzaki-esque long boots and gloves that came to her thighs and mid-upper arms. A tight top with flaring tails, with a _very_ large, diamond-kite shaped red jewel between her breasts. Now that Harry noticed it, the Card's outfit was _very_ reminiscent of Umi Ryuzaki from **Magic Knight Rayearth**, even down to the bloomers...

Harry promptly went red, and he was glad the invisibility cloak prevented him from being seen. He never thought he'd see anyone wearing an outfit like that outside of an anime or a cosplay. At least the other Cards wore skirts. Well, Windy didn't, but he couldn't see her legs, so it didn't matter.

The Card had a confident look on her face, one that made Harry uneasy. It was the same look he and Malfoy got when they confronted each other during a Quidditch match, the same look Hermione got when Ron said something along the lines of "If it's so simple, _you_ do it". It was the look that said "I'm good, and I know it, so get ready to be humiliated".

Harry was suddenly very conscious of the fact that this was The Fight Card. It was only then he made the mental connection that the Card's abilities had to do with fighting. Something he had very little actual experience in.

Slowly, the Card began to advance. It walked smoothly, gracefully, its bearing one that reminded Harry of Dumbledore, a confident glide towards its destination. And it was heading straight for them.

There was a sound behind Harry, and he turned to look. Lee had shed her invisibility cloak and was rotating one arm by the shoulder, then the other, loosening her neck and spine as she stretched. "Stay out of this, Potter," she said. "You're out of your league."

With that, Lee lunged at The Fight Card.

----------------------------------------

Harry stared. He couldn't help it.

As an anime viewer, he'd seen a lot of a lot. Shoujo, shonen, mecha, swords-and-sorcery (one of his absolute faves), slice-of-life, Ken Akamatsu (he felt the man deserved a genre all to himself), heck, one time he even caught about twelve-seconds of some hentai Dudley had been drooling over (at the age of six!), before going into shock, running into his cupboard and not coming out for a week. In all his viewing, he had seen a lot of really great fight scenes, from the likes of **Yu Yu Hakusho**, **Flame of Recca**, **Hunter X Hunter**, the ever-great **Naruto**, etc. It had taken a few months and lots of failed experiments and bruises at the park to realize that he couldn't do those things in real life.

Yet, like his experiments that led him to conclude that magic wasn't real because he couldn't use a rose to become Tuxedo Kamen, his old conclusions had just been rendered null and void.

Harry watched as Lee and The Fight fought. He'd read a lot about how fighting looked a lot like dancing, and for once he could see what that meant. Lee and The Fight wove against each other, each movement looking perfectly choreographed and planned. But that wasn't why he was staring. He was staring because the two of them were also bouncing off the walls and ceiling, doing back flips and turns that would have had an Olympic gymnast turn into a pretzel, and generally defying the laws of physics.

He stood there, staring with his jaw hanging open, when he became conscious of approaching magical signatures. And one of them was Snape. That knocked his brain back to the problem at hand.

"Kero," he said through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes of the fight between the two girls. Fight had managed to hit Lee on the jaw, only to be grabbed in a throw that got turned into a wrestling hold. "Someone's coming! We've got to do something!"

Kero turned towards where the signatures were coming from, then at the two, where The Fight had just swept Lee's legs out from under her, only to have the Chinese girl turn the fall into a roll that allowed her to kick the Clow Card with both feet. "Use The Time Card!"

"What good will that do?" Harry said as he watched The Fight kick Lee in the head from a handstand position, at the same time the human girl was kneeing her stomach. He winced. That _had_ to hurt.

"Stop time, of course!" Kero said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "For starters, at least."

Harry thought about it. Stop time? What good would that do?

Oh, fuhgetaboutit! Harry could feel Snape practically around the next corner. It was better then nothing.

Quickly, Harry pulled the Key off from around his neck. "Key of Power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"

Quickly, he drew The Time Card from his pocket and held it up, ignoring Lee getting thrown into a wall, hard as that was to do. "Clow Card, show me your true power. TIME CARD!"

Harry brought his wand down, and the whole world turned yellow. The Boy-Who-Lived blinked. Oh-kay…

"Did it work?" he asked Keroberos.

For an answer, the Guardian pointed behind him. He turned. Snape could be seen just about to turn the corner, his leg outstretched as if he were running, an excited look on his face. He was perfectly still, like a bug caught in amber, suspended in a moment. "Whoa," Harry said.

There was a crash behind him, and he turned, his Wand in hand. The Time Card had disappeared, but he could still feel its presence around him. Surprisingly, he could feel a portion of his magic and a little bit of his concentration being directed at something and he knew instinctively that if either failed, time would start moving again.

The crash he had heard was Lee being unceremoniously slammed into a time-frozen door, which had refused to move. He winced, then paused.

"Hey," he said to Keroberos, "how come _they_ can still move?"

Kero growled, looking at the Slytherin girl. "The Fight Card can move because it contains Clow Reeds power. I guess the priss can move because she has some of his power as his descendant. DANG!"

Harry smirked. Looks like Kero didn't like Lee. Good.

For the moment, he ignored the two females trying to bash each other's faces in. "So, what do we do?" asked his current partner-in-crime.

Kero looked in his general direction. "Well, for starters, can you lose the cloak? It's creepy talking to no one."

Harry smirked, but drew back the hood of his cloak. "Well, what now?" he repeated.

Kero thought for a moment. "Um, you could try Sealing the Card."

The two watched as Lee slammed The Fight Card's face into the wall, only to have the Card run up the wall and land behind Lee, who was then flipped to the ground. Harry very much wanted to hold it off, but he could already feel himself getting tired from maintaining The Time Card. The lateness of the hour didn't help. Sighing, he raised the Sealing Wand.

"I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form," Harry intoned. "FIGHT CARD!"

Harry developed a slight headache as he Sealed the Card _and_ used The Time Card, but he managed to deal with it. He reached for the now-coalesced Fight Card, but it drifted out of his reach...

...and into Lee's waiting hand.

"Hey" Harry yelled as Lee, smirking her face off in a way Malfoy couldn't have matched in his best day, stuck the Card into her pocket. "That's mine!"

Lee laughed, leaning against a wall. "No Potter, it's not. Once, you spoke to me of how you bled for your Cards. Now, I have done the same."

For the first time, Harry noticed how she was leaning her weight against the wall, and became conscious of the many bruises on her face. There was a cut just along her hairline, and she was favoring her right leg.

"I've bled for this Card, Potter," she said. "It's mine."

"She's right, Harry," Kero said, looking mournful. "The Card has chosen her as its owner. There's nothing you can do."

Gritting his teeth, Harry glared at the Slytherin girl. Battered as she was, her bearing of confidence was still better than Malfoy with all of Slytherin House behind him. Grudgingly, he admitted to himself maybe she _did_ deserve this one. He still had more Cards then her, anyway. For a moment, he thought of what she had said. It seemed she had taken his words to heart. In this instance at least. A hair of respect crept into his voice as he pulled his hood back over his head. "Fine. You win this time. But _you _explain to Snape what you're doing here. Come on, Kero!"

Resisting the urge to evil-laugh, he and the little Sun Guardian ran for it, passing Snape, Filch and McGonagall as they stood frozen. Knowing the potions master, he probably thought Harry had something to do with this, but there would be no way for him to prove it unless Lee blabbed, and somehow, Harry didn't think she would. He figured that she, like him, was planning to keep this between the two of them. And even if she did, Percy had still been awake when he came down, watching the portrait hole like a hawk, so there was no way Harry could have snuck out.

As Harry dropped The Time Card, the world stopped being yellow-chromatic, and the three adults started moving. Harry stuck around long enough to hear Lee being discovered, and McGonagall's exclamations. When he heard Filch going for Dumbledore, Harry took that as his cue to leave. He always suspected Dumbledore could see through his cloak, or at least, detect him.

"So," Kero said., "how do we get back to the room?"

Harry sighed. "I'm too tired to use Jump-"

"Good," Kero muttered.

"-so you'll have to carry me up to the window," he finished innocently.

Kero's eyes bugged out. "Oh no..."

"Oh _yes_..."

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The next day, the school was abuzz with how Lee had been found out-off-bounds. The fact she had also been beaten kept the rumors from making her into the beater. The fact she had been found conscious, however, fueled rumors about her fighting the beater, which ranged from a troll to a werewolf from the Forbidden Forest. Only she and Harry knew the truth about _that_ rumor.

Lee managed to weasel out of the situation with a slap on the wrist. She was Slytherin, after all, and Snape favored his own house. Rumor had it that she'd gone out to 'avenge' Malfoy (and his goons). Again, only she and Harry knew the truth, but _that_ wasn't it.

The things that dripped down to the rumor mill said that Lee hadn't seen who the beater was because whoever it was managed to put out her wand, so it was too dark. They fought, and the guy had run off when he heard the teachers coming. That was the story Lee fed the school, and, although the rumors said differently, there was no reason to believe it wasn't the truth. Snape supported her, after all.

Of course, if Lee had claimed some reincarnated sorcerer had animated the piano from the Muggle Studies classroom and sic'd it after her, Snape would probably still back her up.

After a few days, since there were no more incidents, the security died down. The reigning theory was that whoever it was- and people assumed it was a guy- had been afraid Lee was just waiting for him to strike again before blabbing. Of course, there were other theories that had to do with her beating him, along with it being a loose boggart, but the first was the universally accepted one- well, accepted except for Luna Lovegood, who believed that the attacker was some kind of magical water dragon knight.

When Lee got out of the hospital wing two days later, her first 'visitor' was Harry Potter, who asked if the rumors that she had a relationship with Malfoy were true. Lee promptly told him to stuff it, and they had a decent fifteen-minute almost-shout-fest. Only decent because they weren't really putting their backs into it. Harry, in his own perverse way, was merely trying to see if she was alright; and Lee, in her own perverse way, was telling him she was and he had better eff off.

Well, maybe not so perverse…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Hermione's a bookworm, and as a fellow bookworm, I'm familiar with the feeling of reading well into the a.m. and waking up with not enough sleep. It's a logical thing to happen to her. As for Ron, I really don't see him as an early morning person, and the book seems to support this to a degree.

I originally planned someone close to Harry to get beat up, like Hermione or Hagrid, but I decided I wanted Malfart to suffer. XD

I noticed that The Fight Card was a bit short in the anime. She wasn't that much taller than Meilin. Kero didn't detect it right away because it was being subtle, unlike The Thunder Card. In the anime, there were Cards who managed to hide from Keroberos and Sakura. And The Thunder was raging at the time, so it was putting off enough magic o be felt over the ambient background magic.

Lots of anime references, I know. Sorry, but I just couldn't help myself. The impression I got of Nagi Springfield was that of a James Bond-esque womanizer. How else could he have gotten a thousand probationary **_Pactios_**?

I noticed that Sakura, unlike Syaoran, doesn't need to have The Time Card under her Wand at all times when she's using it, so neither does Harry. Also, both Sakura and my Harry have Sealed Cards while using other Cards, so there's precedent. The Time Card just takes a lot of much energy.

In the anime, Kero's strength is linked to The Earthy and Firey. When Sakura got Firey, Kero got fire-breath, and after she caught Earthy, he got super strength, besides his 'cool' form. I figure since Harry has Earthy, Kero has super strength. Enough to carry Harry up to the window of his dorm. -_snicker_-

I know I said Lee would have more airtime, but I just couldn't pull it off. Sorry.

OMG! SO MANY REVIEWS!

Because there's so many, I can't dedicate this fic to just any three. Sorry.

To **Ran Hoshino**: Winter _and_ Lee will be fleshed out in the next chapter. As to your questions, just keep reading this fic! It's no fun knowing by looking at author's notes. And speaking of which, about Yue, I would like to ask people not to leave their speculations lying around, as some of you are too smart for my fics own good.

To **Demented Chook**: Oh, YEAH!

To **YumiFukushima**: Sorry, no weird outfits... yet...

To **Warbl65**: Thanks for the info. If I can't find out what Syaoran says in the original Japanese, I'll rewrite and use what you sent me.

To **Radszilla**: Thanks for the review. Nothing I love more like a good crossover.

To **AzureSky 123**: Yeah, I did burn through the Cards pretty fast, but I wanted to give Harry a decent arsenal. Still undecided about the Card thing, although I plan to use The Mirror Card to fill up a plot detail in book six. XD Which will involve F/F. XD And I'd dearly love torture ole' Dorco, but I'll have to wait 'til six for an excuse.

To **eliteshadow**: Name-buddy! The chap's out now!

To **FF-loverHP1**: You mean Yue. And the answer to _that_ is… _Sore wa himitsu desu_. XD

To **damon blade**: No Cards as dates. But keep reading and when I get to fourth year, you'll see what I have planned.

To **Swordofice1**:Sorry, I already have my own ideas, but thanks for the suggestion.

To **ragnorak the 1st**: Will do! Hope you stay with me!

To **michael68**: I'll give your suggestions thought. They really haven't occurred to me, especially not The Time Card thing. Although it might be difficult to plot out, since it's easier to just build around canon instead of over it. Regarding your final note, it sounds like a good idea, but I don't think I'm the guy for the job. I'm not sure I'll be able to give it justice, as I might end up turning it into a one-shot humor-fic.

To **realdarkangel**: 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Cherry Blossom' is nice, but it hasn't been updated in a while.

To **Unique Dark Rose**: Thank you.

To **Voakands**: Thanks for your opinion. Don't worry, I only plan to have them in one chap, just a cameo, really, and maybe minor involvement in an arc. I just want to see them get screen time. Don't worry, it might not be for a long way off, although expect subtle and not-so-subtle references. -_whistles innocently_-

Please send more suggestions for the Card names for when Harry becomes master. If you don't, I'll have to think of one, and that is so troublesome. XD

Please review, C&C welcome. I live on reviews. My muse lives off reviews. If she's well fed, I produce lots of fics. If not...

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off…

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Well…not yet… heh… XD

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**"Active Time Event" or Lee Gaiden 1: Lee's First Clow Card… Experience**

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Fei Lee, or Lee Fei depending on convention, carefully folded her school robe and placed it on a handy tree stump. Taking an ofuda, she placed it over the robe to make sure no little critters took off with it while she worked. Dressed in a tank top and bike-shorts, she strangely managed to belong in the Forbidden Forest. Granted, she wasn't _that_ far in, just enough that no one could see her, but still, the Forbidden Forest was the Forbidden Forest.

Taking her sword out of its sheath- she had enlarged it in advance- she took her conquest from out of the rubber band she had used to tuck it on the sheath. Looking at it, she couldn't help breaking into a goofy smile. So what if she'd had to stay two nights in the hospital wing because she'd been so beat up it was a wonder she had still been standing? So what if the school thought she'd done it to avenge the Malfoy brat (she shivered as she thought of the ferrety blond. **_ICK!_**)? So what if Potter had left her holding the bag? SHE HAD A CARD, AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERED!

She came to her senses as she realized she was doing some kind of happy-dance and stopped, blushing slightly and glad no one had seen her lose it. That was something her sister would have done. Ugh!

Still, a smirk spread over her face as she thought of what the reaction of her 'future-brother-in-law' would be when she wrote to him. Idly, she made a mental note to ask him what was taking so long with that **Naruto **_hitae-ate_ and metal-plated gloves she had him buy. It should have been in the owl-post days ago!

And she was procrastinating, she realized. Dowsing the goofy grin on her face, she held the Card in one hand and the sword in the other. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on what she had to do. She knew- _in theory_- that it was no different from how she used her elemental ofuda, but she was still a little nervous. No one in her family had ever done this before. If she messed up…

Shaking her head to banish such thoughts, the descendant of Clow Reed returned to the matter at hand.

_Now or never,_ she thought.

With a flick of her wrist, the Card was airborne. Lee held her sword with both hands, point down. _Now or never_, she repeated.

"Clow Card, show me your true power. FIGHT CARD!" she said as she stabbed at the Card.

Light exploded as the point made contact with the magical object and the Card dissolved into streams of magic, reforming into a female sprite, the very sprite Lee had fought against a few nights ago. The Card opened it's eyes, before bowing. "Mistress," it said.

Mistress. Lee liked the sound of that. The goofy grin threatened to break out again, but, now that she had an audience, she managed to repress it. Instead, she pointed at a dead tree. "Show me what you can do."

The Fight Card turned its head in the general she was pointing and a small smirk appeared on the Card Sprite's face, before she launched herself at the indicated target, kicking and punching.

Lee leaned back as the Card went to town on the poor piece of wood. It took her all of five seconds to realize how lucky she had been all those nights ago. The Fight Card was _way_ out of her league, and that was just in skill alone. Add that to it's inhuman speed and strength, and she was wondering how she managed to stay alive.

Reluctantly, she supposed it was thanks to Potter. If he hadn't Sealed the Card when he had, it was likely she would have ended up in a coma.

To get rid of that hateful thought, she imagined Potter being fed to the giant squid.

Still, she supposed that Potter had had a point that first time she met. Judging from her own experience, if she really wanted the Cards, she would have to be ready to sacrifice for them.

Frowning, she banished _that_ hateful thought by imagining Potter drowning in his cauldron. Much better.

"That's enough!" Lee said, and The Fight Card stopped. The wind blew, and what was left of the tree fell over into woodchips. The smirk on the sprite's face had gotten bigger. "I'm impressed. It seems I have a use for you after all."

At the Card's questioning looks, Lee settled down into a fighting stance. "Train me."

Next time she saw her 'future-brother-in-law', he wouldn't know what hit him…

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Much later, Lee collapsed, panting, barely managing to stay upright. As it was, she was supporting herself by placing her hands on her knees. Across from her, The Fight Card was also panting, obviously winded, but still looking ready for a couple more rounds. Which were a couple more than Lee herself could take.

"Enough," she said, voice barely trembling from the tiredness she felt, and The Fight Card straightened, bowing formally.

The Card nodded, approaching her. "By your leave then, Mistress...?"

"Yes," Lee said, making a vague wave with her hand. "You have my leave to go."

The predatory gleam in The Fight Card's eye was all the warning Lee had before the sprite literally pounced on her, bearing her to the ground as the sprite held her head in both hands and kissed her, their bodies pressing even as the Card began to dissolve. Their lips only parted when the sprite completely disappeared, and that took a while.

Lee lay on the ground, panting for breath and going completely red...

Oh, (BLEEP)!

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"**End ATE" or "Insert Laugh Track Here"**

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A/N: heh… bet you thought I had really long notes.

I managed to fit in Lee stuff after all… XD

_Now_ I'm signing off...


	8. Harry's Weird Date

A/N: I have belatedly realized how filler the last chap was, and am very thankful I didn't take that Unbreakable Oath. Hope this one is better...

Warning! Contains implications of alternative gender preferences. Those who find that disturbing, _how the heck did you get this far_! Last chap's kissing scene should have made you stop already. Do you even _know_ what** Card Captor Sakura** is?

Also, some innuendoes and outright dirty matters. Closet pervert-y in action. Guess who. XD

It's amazing how fast one writes when there are no distractions… just don't get used to this…

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 8, The Illusion: Harry's Weird Date

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. Both are used here without their owners' permission, which would probably be hard to get.

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It was an absolutely _beautiful_ day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, Snape was terrorizing a bunch of first-years, and did we mention it was Friday? Yes, Friday, that magical- so to speak- day of the week before the weekends, revered by all students, muggle and magic alike, for being the day they are liberated from the tyranny of education. Well, revered by all students but Hermione Granger, but she's a weirdo, so she doesn't count.

Fei Lee was looking forward to this weekend. Her 'future-brother-in-law' (she snickered internally when she thought of him like that) had _finally_ sent her the _hitae-ate_ and gloves in that morning's owl-post. To her surprise, he had sent her one from each Hidden Village, so she had a grand total of nine forehead protectors and pairs of gloves. They were all carefully hidden in box under her dorm bed, warded with enough _ofuda_ and spells to blast any idiot looking to open it without the key-spell to the moon. She trusted her roommates less than she trusted her sister to keep her hands off her 'future-husband' (again, an internal snicker).

This weekend would be the first time she'd be able to play around with them. Just because she'd had to work hard all her life didn't mean she'd lost her sense of fun. Even her 'f-b-i-l' would cut loose and watch those shonen anime he liked, although the presence of her cousins usually made it difficult.

Leaving her last class of the day, ignoring the blonde-brat's lame come-ons, she mentally reviewed mentally reviewed the things she would say to Potter when she saw him. The annoying Card Captor had been topping her in creativity lately (according to the latest Ravenclaw betting odds statistics review), and she could not allow that to continue. Even as she went through her 'brat-evasion' subroutine, ditching the blonde and as many Slytherins as she could, she was also making creative word-combinations to use on Potter. She needed extra money, and the quickest way she could think of was putting money on herself in the Hufflepuff betting rings.

Ditching the last of her Housemates, she made her way towards the library. She was well up on her schoolwork, but a few extra notes would help, and adding more western spells to her repertoire was a good idea. Her 'f-b-i-l' had suggested it. But he'd also suggested her getting a boyfriend, which she had promptly bashed him for. Still, no point in ignoring an intelligent suggestion.

While her summer had been hell- learning two years worth of Hogwarts education in a month and a half had been no picnic- it had allowed her to catch up with her classmates. Still, she had been lacking in offensive and defensive spells, curses and hexes, so every week she went to the library to research two or three and learn them. Not only would it help getting annoying ferrets of her back- if the need arose; used properly, Malfoy would be a good pawn, provided he didn't assume too much: **_ICK!_**- but it would also be useful against any more Clow Cards she encountered. Statistically, Potter had the advantage on her. He had more of the Cards, more experience using and fighting them (at least, she assumed), and probably knew and was experienced at using more spells. Her single Card, while formidable, was of questionable use against later encounters, and after that little… incident (at this, Fei went red) during her experiment, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to use it. She preferred to keep her dignity, thank-you-very-much!

The library was mostly empty when she entered. This early in the year, not many people needed to do heavy-duty research. There were a few first-years looking something up, a solitary seventh-year perusing a book and a girl who she recognized as the one Potter liked to hang out with checking out enough material to stock a shelf. The girl froze when she saw her, but Fei ignored the Gryffindor as she made her way towards a set of shelves in the back. Grabbing a certain book, she flipped to the page she had left off...

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Negi trembled as he and Evangeline drew back from each other. Beneath their feet, the circle for the double **Pactio** still glowed. 

Evangeline recovered first. "Well," the vampire magi panted, "haven't done _that_ with a guy in a while."

"Maybe we shouldn't have waited for my sex-change curse to wear off?" Negi said half-jokingly. He was getting good at this.

"Nah," the blonde said. "Your card would have turned out funny."

Asuna rolled her eyes, shaking her head in amusement. "Let go of him, you lolita-S&M pervert!" she said in mock righteous indignation.

"Jealous?" the two chorused, to which Asuna replied with a...

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Harry paused at that. What _could_ Asuna reply with? It was during these times when being a fan fic writer was so frustrating. It was a little hard getting a Negi/Eva/Asuna threesome to work without making anyone go _too_ OOC, but it was doable. Seven chapters and 97 (at last count) reviews on fanfiction dot net said as much. Still, it got difficult sometimes. At least his Konoka/Setsuna thing was working out.

History of Magic was the best time for writing fanfics on the sly, and also the worst. The former because Binns was literally dead to the world, and wouldn't notice a little writing, and the latter because Binns' voice tended to slowly kill Harry's muse. Fortunately, Harry usually managed to squeeze a few paragraphs in.

Today, however, Harry just couldn't quite meet that not-so-lofty standard. Lee's little victory a few days ago still bugged him. He had thought that as long as she couldn't Seal the Cards like her Sealing Wand could, she didn't really matter as a threat. But if the Card would go to the one who beat it, no matter if _he_ was the one who did the Sealing...

"Harry, pay attention!" Hermione hissed, temporarily snapping him out of his reverie. Mock pouting at Hermione, Harry went back to scribbling out the latest chapter of 'Mahora Hearts'. She left him alone when she thought he was taking notes. After deciding whether to add more Nodoka/Yue/Haruna threesome fluff or to get started on the Chachamaru/Mana mushy scene, he resumed scribbling.

Five sheets of paper (he didn't use parchment for this), a lemon scene, teeth-rotting amounts of sugary fluff, two more lesbians, and a switch to his SasuSakuIno, NaruHina, ShizuKabu, KakaKureAnko, TemaTen fic later, the day was done. Carefully packing away his papers, he joined the seething mass of humanity on its way to freedom- for the next fifty-or-so hours, anyway.

"Finally!" Ron said with a sigh, rubbing half-asleep gunk out of his eyes. "I think he's upped the bore-factor this week."

"It _was _worse then usual today," Harry agreed as he rubbed feeling back into his hand. Writer's cramp was murder. "I almost couldn't write."

Hermione sniffed. "Really, Harry, it's good you take notes, but must you write that... material you call fiction in class?"

Harry smirked. "Hey, I don't make cracks about your SasuNaru slash, **Witch of Hermes**. But at least mine has actual plot. No one goes yaoi just for a good lay, no matter what 'So Lonely' says, although it sounds like a Freudian cry for help."

As usual, Ron was lost. "Huh?"

"Muggle stuff, Ron," Harry said as he watched Hermione turn an interesting shade of pink. Him getting a rise out of Hermione was pretty rare, but such fun to watch. Ron's the one who gets the most rises out of her, but after that they usually don't talk for days.

"I'm getting back at you, Harry Potter!" Hermione growled out, still blushing, before she stomped off for the library.

"You realize you're in for a world of hurt," Ron said as they watched her stomp off.

"I'll live."

"Famous last words."

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Fei was walking down to dinner after her note-taking jaunt when she saw something that made her roll her eyes. Some idiot was walking down the hallway with their head down, obviously reading a thick sheaf of papers. Really, didn't they know they could get hurt doing that? She was very tempted to just let whoever it was walk into a wall or open door, but they were walking straight towards a staircase, with no sign they noticed it.

For a moment, she debated whether or not she should do anything. Slytherins weren't known for being helpful, but she really couldn't just stand there and let someone get hurt.

Conscience won over reputation, and she hurried over. "Stop," she said, grabbing the person's shoulder just as they were about to take a step into empty air.

The person blinked and looked down, noticing for the first time where she was. "Ugh. Again?" the person- a girl- said. "Thanks Har- um, have we met before?"

The minute the girl turned around, Fei went brain numb. Dark-brown eyes in a face framed by silver hair looked back at her.

"Oh, I don't think we've been introduced," the girl said, extending her hand. "I'm Winter Moon, from Ravenclaw."

Fei took it unconsciously, feeling a bit dazed. She could feel her face starting to flush as she made the required hand-shaking movement. "Lee. Lee Fe- uh, Fei Lee, from Slytherin. Call me Lee." She shut up before she started babbling.

Winter smiled cheerfully, and Fei felt her flush go up another notch. "Lee. You're the transfer, right? From Hong Kong?"

Fei nodded, her head threatening to bob up and down repeatedly before jerking to a halt. "Yes, that's me. From Hong Kong. Yup."

Winter switched smiles, to a serene one, although not one that was Mona Lisa-eque. "Thanks for stopping me, Lee. Most Slytherins would usually just laugh at me if they saw I was about to have an accident."

"I'm not like other Slytherins," Fei said before she could stop herself.

Winter laughed, a sound that reminded the Chinese girl of music and wind chimes, and choirs singing in praise. "No, you're not. Hey, you probably don't know too many people, right? Wanna be my friend? I could help you get around. It's the least I can do for you after you save my neck."

"Uh, sure?" Fei says, just getting back to terra-firma, but was quickly dislodged when, with another dazzling smile, Winter grabbed her hand in the one not full of papers and starts leading her to the Great Hall, saying if they didn't hurry all the good food will have been eaten already.

Fei followed numbly behind, once more out of it and now completely red. The word 'whoa' kept repeating itself in her head, and her last coherent thought was that her 'f-b-i-l's' other idea wasn't so bad after all, but it needed modifications.

Unknown to both, a thin line of blood began to flow from Fei's nose...

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Harry ate his usual half Dudley-sized helping off food as Hermione pointedly ignored him, sitting on Ron's other side as she ate, talking to Ginny. Dinner was as good as usual, but Harry wasn't blazing through it at his usual speed. Instead, his mind was preoccupied worrying what new Clow Card was going to crawl out of the woodwork next, and what other kinky things he could put in the SasuSakuInoTemaTen lemon scene. His fic wasn't called 'Icha Icha Paradise, Naruto Edition' for nothing.

He tried to ignore his physical reaction, but a voice that sounded like a cross between Jiraiya, Happosai, Ataru Moroboshi and, for some reason, Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno and Itachi was whispering that maybe he should get some of the Clow Card girls together and have them 'help' him 'do' some 'research' on the subject, as they seem very willing...

Harry promptly stabbed himself with a fork to distract himself while he had the voice burned alive (it turned out to be a hentai cooty he picked up from Dudley). No way was he going down that road! He just wrote about the stuff!

Beside, did the Clow Cards even _have_ someplace where he could stick his...

Getting rid of the other hentai cooty (he passed it to Hermione), Harry tried to bury himself in food. He'd think about his fics later. Much later. Still, 'Mahora Hearts' really needed more Eva/Asuna only scenes, just so it didn't look like they had only drunkenly screwed one another, although whether it should be in the vampire's 'kid' form or her 'mature' form...

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Fei numbly settled down in the Slytherin table, absently wiping the blood off her face with her sleeve. Somehow, she remembered promising to meet Winter in the library tomorrow afternoon. The rest had been a blur of blushing and unconscious nose-bleeding.

Idly, she wondered if this was how her sister felt. She didn't think she was in love, no, not that, but it must be something close. Was this what her cousin called a crush? In most instances, she trusted her cousin's opinions more than her sister's. Her twin could be a bit flaky most of the time, except when she was remarkably insightful. It had been her sister's idea to bug their cousin into getting a suitable wife, although the method was... unorthodox, to say the least.

"Something wrong, Lee?" Zabini asked her, looking mildly concerned.

"Nothing," Fei said tersely, a knee-jerk reaction. Now that she had been confronted, her attitude of aloofness and superiority- notable even by Slytherin standards- reasserted itself. She immediately regretted it, however. Zabini was... not exactly a friend, but they had a feeling of shared solidarity from being attacked by The Fight Card, although Blaise didn't know who had attacked him. When he reached for the peas, she silently handed it to him, a wordless apology for her tone, and he accepted, on both levels.

A lot of the real feelings in Slytherin were exchanged in silence, she had noticed. Malfoy was in truth very lonely, with his father being an obsessed blood purist who spends more time furthering 'The Cause' than with his son, and he sublimates this by lame come-ons in a pathetic but heart-wrenching attempt to find love. Crabbe and Goyle were the only real friends Malfoy had, and while not exactly brain trusts, even dumb animals are smart enough to know when someone's hurting. Pansy Parkinson was more of a sister than the clingy fan-girl/girlfriend she acted like. They'd been friends for years, and they stuck together because they didn't have anyone else. Most of the time, the four just sit around in the dark in their dormitory, wallowing in self-pity and waiting for Malfoy to put himself back together enough to make a public appearance. It was mainly for show, since most purebloods in Slytherin- meaning most Slytherins in general- have lots of issues, and silently support each other by sticking together, going with each others ideas and opinions, no matter how hare-brained, and basically silently being there for each other. All this silence, however, tended to confuse their public and private personas, so most anyone saw, including other Slytherins, was the brash, uncaring facade that the world knew. This sort of behavior creates a surface distrust that keeps people from being really close. Hence, the wards and spells on her stuff. It was not uncommon in the snake House.

Still, in a way, Slytherin was more of a family than the other Houses, a fact that Voldemort once exploited. If one became a Death Eater, most of the 'family' became Death Eaters. This family just didn't really trust each other as far as they could throw each other.

Fei had her own family, one where she was happy. In Slytherin, happy people are snapped up and asked to tell stories about their families so the others can get a sense of what it's like. She found it sad, a generation of young adults growing up like that. Their parents ought to know better.

Slytherin couldn't be ever be her family. There were too many masks for her to feel comfortable. But just maybe, she could call them friends?

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Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking back to the common room, Hermione still not talking to Harry, when it happened. Harry was talking to Ron while idly rearranging his fics when someone plowed right into him, causing his conversation to be unceremoniously cut off.

"Oh my gosh!" the person who had plowed into him said. "I'm so sorr- Harry? Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going again, here, let me help you pick those up."

Guess who?

"No, it's alright, Winter, I wasn't watching where I was going either," Harry said, shifting to a more comfortable position on the ground better suited for picking things up. Ron snickered, and Hermione wore something similar superimposed over her annoyed-at-Harry look. The two of them slipped away unnoticed as the two one the ground started gathering the fallen sheets of paper.

Harry's reached for another sheet and accidentally brushed against Winter's hand. He jerked back as if burned, his face heating, but Winter didn't seem to notice. Instead, she was looking at the paper she had in her hand. When Harry finished gathering, she was still looking at it.

"Is something the matter, Winter?" he asked, looking at her anxiously and hoping that wasn't the sheet with the lemon scene. He'd die of embarrassment if she read that…

"Harry, this looks like a copy of a chapter of 'Mahora Hearts," Winter said. "Did someone send you a copy of an update? But why is it handwritten? Unless…"

Winter's eye widened, and she gave a fan-girl squeal, causing Harry to back off uncertainly. "Harry, did you _write_ this? But that means you're…"

Winter gave another squeal as she suddenly appeared in Harry's face, the proverbial stars in her eyes, clutching the piece of paper in her hand reverently, her own stack lying forgotten on the floor. "Harry, are _you_ **Raijinkage the Writer-Sama**? The writer of 'Mahora Hearts', 'Icha Icha Paradise, Naruto Edition', 'Sasuke Darkstalker, 'Negi Springfield and the Magic Book' and 'Naruto: Reservoir Chronicle'?"

It wasn't really a question. "Um, yes?"

There came a third squeal that nearly blew out his eardrums. "**Raijinkage**-sama, it's an honor to meet you face to face! I am your humble servant, **Tsuki no Tenshi**."

Harry blinked. That name was vaguely familiar. He tried to recall it. "**Tsuki no Tenshi**..." Harry mused. "Isn't she the one who..." Oh, how to put this delicately...

Fortunately, Winter beat him to it. "The one who writes lemon self-inserts? Yup! Actually, my neighbor writes the actual lemon parts. I don't have the nerve to write them myself," Winter said, blushing cutely. "Although her lemon scenes aren't as good as yours."

Let the death by embarrassment commence...

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When Harry walked into the Gryffindor common room later that night, his eyes were glazed, he had a nose-bleed, his front was soiled with blood, his glasses were askew, and he walked with a noticeable drunken wobble.

"Harry, what happened?" Ron exclaimed as Harry approached him and Hermione, whose only reaction was a raised eyebrow.

Harry ignored Ron, however. "Hermione, I apologize for what I said before, I'm really, really sorry, please be my friend again, I really need your help," Harry said in a rush as he dropped to his knees, his hands clenched pleadingly at the bushy-haired girl.

Hermione looked at him. He looked so pathetic like that that she was tempted to say something other than-

"No," she said, and went back to reading her book.

Harry drooped, but quickly stood up and went to Percy, who was standing close-by and looked about to start ragging on the twins about something. Dropping down on his knees like he had with Hermione, he clenched his hands pleadingly. "Percy, I really need your help, you're the only one I can turn to, please, HELP ME!"

Percy, surprised, turns towards Harry, who looks at him with teary-puppy-dog-eyes. The twins used this distraction to make a break for it. "Harry, I would be honored to be of assistance," he said, pulling Harry up and making sure his shiny Head Boy badge was visible. "As Head Boy, it is my duty to aid Hogwarts' younger generations with the wisdom of my years. So, what is your problem?"

Harry started looking very self-conscious, shuffling his feet, not looking Percy in the eye and being nervous. "Um, well, you see, I need help, and you're the only one I know with a girlfriend, so I was wondering if you could help me out. You see, there's this girl-"

"Okay, move along, Perce, this is a best friend's job," Ron said as he appeared suddenly next to Harry as if by... well, magic, grabbing Harry's arm and tugging him in a certain direction. On his other side, Hermione was doing the same, a wide and vaguely Mitsune-esque grin on her face. "We'll take it from here, right, Herme?"

"Right," Hermione said, her grin getting wider and slightly more disturbing as the two of them dragged Harry back towards their chairs, leaving a put-out Percy. "You should have said so sooner, Harry. Of _course _I forgive you, I don't want to left out of _this_. So, who is it?" Her tone implied she already knew, but wanted _him_ to say it out loud.

Harry blushed as they settled him down on a chair, staring at him eagerly, Hermione almost disturbingly so. "Ah, well, it's, um..."

"It's Winter, isn't it?" Hermione interrupted, apparently not being able to help herself. Blushing fiercely, Harry nodded, not looking them in the eye. Hermione squealed, endangering his eardrums and yelling out "I KNEW IT!", as Ron pumped his fist in the air with a loud "HAH!". The two high-fived.

"Guys, people are staring," Harry mutters, embarrassed. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?

The two obviously didn't think so. "So, what happened after we left you two?" Ron said, the two of them leaning forward, eager for details.

"Um, well, we started picking up the papers I dropped. We were almost done when she asked me if I wrote those fics and I said yes," Harry said.

"Oh," Hermione said. She always suspected Harry wrote fanfics.

"Huh?" Ron said. As sometimes happened, he didn't get what they were talking about.

"Um, well, you see Ron, I'm a writer on the muggle internet. My penname is **Raijinkage**-" Harry wasn't able to finish as Hermione squealed.

"Harry, _you're_ the writer of 'Three's Not A Crowd', the absolute _best_ Sasuke story in existence!" Hermione gushed.

Harry nodded, surprised, although he idly thought that of _course _a Sasuke fan-girl like Hermione would know about his first- and, according to his 795 reviewers and twelve thousand plus hits (at last count), best- ongoing SasuSakuIno fic.

"Back to the subject?" Ron said, obviously feeling put out.

"Harry, I didn't know you were _that_ good," Hermione continued.

"Back to _Winter_?" Ron stressed.

"Oh, right," Hermione said, snapping out of it.

"So what else?" Ron stressed, and Hermione got her disturbing grin back. Creepy, having her look like that.

"Uh, well, we got to talking, and she asked me to meet her in the library tomorrow afternoon," Harry said lamely.

The two waited. Nothing more was forthcoming.

"That's it?" Ron said, mildly disappointed.

"Yeah," Harry said, staring determinedly at his fingers, which were twiddling in Hinata-fashion. This was starting to feel like a bad idea.

Hermione shook her head. "I never thought I'd see the day. You've had a crush on Winter since first year, and you only got the nerve to ask her _now_!"

Twiddling was harder than it looked. His fingers kept hitting each other. "Actually, she asked _me_. I said so, didn't I?"

Ron whistled. "Whoa. Wish someone would ask _me_ out."

Hermione looked at Harry closely and gasped. "Harry, you've been bleeding!"

Harry wiped some blood off his face. "Oh, this? Just a little nose bleed."

"Did you bump into a door or something?" Ron said.

"Uh, no. Winter wanted to talk about lemons," Harry muttered, his fingers twiddling like crazy and his face flushing as badly as the first time the Cards had kissed him.

"Ahhh..." Hermione said in understanding, a naughty look on her face.

"Lemons?" Ron, of course.

Hermione giggled. "I'll explain later."

"Don't you dare!" Harry said.

Hermione gave him a smug, slightly perverted, 'revenge is sweet' look. "You want my help or not?"

_Really_ bad idea...

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Harry stumbled into the dorm, a glazed look in his eyes, a nose-bleed, front soiled with blood, glasses askew, and walking with a noticeable drunken wobble.

He made a vow to _never_ ask those two for this sort of advice again!

Thankfully, he was the only other person up here. Friday night meant people slept late. He _really_ didn't want to have to explain why he looked the way he did.

Ron and Hermione really put him through a wringer. Ron, having five older brothers, not to mention parents, got a lot of this sort of 'advice', and was more then glad to have someone to pass it on to. The glint in his eye said the bastard enjoyed putting Harry on the spot. And Hermione...

Harry shuddered and wiped his nose again as another nose-bleed appeared.

OMG, Hermione...

He really hadn't expected that of her. He thought she'd be able to help him with relating to other girls, since _she_ was the only girl he could hold a conversation with. Instead, she'd taken off her mask and given him advice that would have given Jiraiya conniptions. Oh, she hadn't said it all straight out, but all those innuendoes were worse, much, much worse. He was surprised she hadn't sprung a nose-bleed, the ecchi-ness radiating from her was so strong. He knew he shouldn't be one to talk, he'd written lemons too, but man! To make things worse, their advice came out as a cross between The Talk, female psychology, Weasley dating lore, and the Kama Sutra. No way could he use it all.

He was never looking at Hermione the same way again. Harry was just glad that, as a writer, all she managed was cheesy, campy slash. If she ever managed to channel all her Jiraiya-ness into a lemon- or, heaven forbid, a series of lemons- ffnet was doomed to censure.

Now, a little worse off than he was before- there was no way in Shayol Ghul he was using Hermione's advice!- he planned to retreat to bed, hoping to forget every word and innuendo uttered downstairs.

Quickly getting dressed for bed, he closed the curtains of his four-poster. Tucking the Clow Book under his pillow, he lay back, starring at the ceiling.

"So," Kero said, coming out of the little pouch Harry had rigged for him on top of one of the bed's pillars, where it was hard to be seen. "How was your day?"

Harry made an indistinct sound.

"That bad, huh?"

Another sound. Harry suddenly had a strange image of himself wearing white shorts and a blue shirt with a red and white fan on the back.

Harry smirked. At least Sasuke doesn't have girl problems. _Fan_-girl problems by the truckload, sure, but no girl problems. Kind of like Negi Springfield...

Harry suddenly sat up. Why not? It can't be worse than the advice his friends gave him.

"Say, Kero, I was wondering if you could help me with something," Harry said. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and there's no way it could be worse than ero-Hermione's advice, right?

Right?

----------------------------------------

Wrong. Dead wrong.

Harry had come to a conclusion. James Bond was an amateur. Casanova was nothing.

And Clow Reed was a Jiraiya-level pervert.

Oh, from what Kero said, the guy was nice enough. Able, dependable, honorable, friendly, the kind of guy that was most people's friend. His descriptions sort of reminded Harry of Dumbledore. Just one thing.

The guy managed to draw women like metal filings to a magnet. Just the things Kero managed to pick up without Clow actually _telling _him anything was… disturbing. The Clow Cards, thankfully, were never… um, that is to say, Clow considered them his children, so he never… um, well, you get the idea, although some (all?) of them managed to pick up a few things.

Like the kissing, for example.

Kero's advice was useless. Worse than useless. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Curse the human body!

In fact, Harry was still wide awake when everyone had settled in for the night. The more he tried not to think about it, the more the things Ron, Hermione and Kero echoed in his head. The musings of whether Dumbledore had been like Clow weren't helping. There were just some things you shouldn't even _consider _people being capable of.

Sighing, Harry sat up. It was almost midnight, and he _still_ couldn't go to sleep. This was getting ridiculous. It was just that he felt so… alone. It usually didn't bother him; after all, considering he lived with the Dursleys, he was pretty okay, without too many neuroses. It's just that, now that he was used to good human contact, when these things overtook him, he found it very hard to sleep. Sleep he really needed. He had less than eight hours before he had to meet Winter, and he really didn't want her to see him looking like an extra from 'Resident Evil'.

Closing his eyes, he let himself fall back to his pillow. Maybe this time he'd knock himself unconscious…

He hit the pillow with a loud 'thump' and his eyes flew open. He'd forgotten the Clow Book was under there.

A thought entered Harry's head. Pulling the book out from under his pillow, he debated before sighing and deciding, 'What the heck?'. Reaching for his Key, he began to intone quietly, hoping Kero didn't wake up. "Key of power, show me your true form…"

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Harry yawned as he stretched, before blearily rubbing sleep gunk out of his eyes. Next to him, the Clow Card he had summoned to keep him company last night yawned, stretching as well, before curling up again and snuggling against him. Smiling, Harry reached down and stroked his bedmate, marveling at the softness of her hair. It felt as light as air!

"Thanks for keeping me company last night," Harry said quietly, and the Card made a contented sound, snuggling against him some more. Deciding she had the right idea, he lay back, one arm around her, and curled up as well. The other arm, he used to pull the blanket over them.

It was nice and warm under the blanket, with the two of them. Harry really couldn't remember when he'd last slept so well. The only times that came to mind were the very first night he slept at Hogwarts and those times Mirror had slept with him. Alright, maybe not really the latter, since he'd been nervous as heck, but the relaxed sensation he'd felt as he'd slept certain came close. Until he'd woken up and found the girl/Clow-Card/sprite in the same bed with him. _That _had shot his composure apart.

This, however... this felt different. Having someone in his bed like this was a completely new experience for Harry, but at the same time, it wasn't exciting, or any of those things 'firsts' usually were. Instead, it felt... _right_. Right and… it felt like it was how things were supposed to be…

As Harry started to doze back off again, he decided he needed to do this more often. If ever he had trouble sleeping- and maybe if he didn't- he could just pull out the Clow Book. As oblivion started to encompass him, he had one last thought.

_Really, Dash made for a very nice, fuzzy sleeping plushy._

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When he finally felt like getting up, he sent Dash back to the Book, but not before she gave him a quick nuzzle and peck on the cheek. For obvious reasons, it didn't make him as red as he usually does after getting kissed by her Clow Card brethren.

After washing and dressing carefully to make sure he didn't have anymore blood stains from last night's nose bleeds, he went down towards the Great Hall. Thankfully, he didn't run into Lee. He really wasn't in the mood for her. After a quick small breakfast- small as in only two average-sized servings; he was too nervous to eat more- he headed for the common room, his papers and stuff in hand. They really hadn't talked about what they'd be doing, but it must have _something_ to do with them, right? So maybe he'd better make some more pages, just in case she wanted to read them. Yeah, that's it, he was going to write lots of cute, fluffy scenes for her to read. And maybe…

----------------------------------------

Fei woke up feeling on the right side of the bed, which, coming from someone who got sent to the Snake House, was saying something. Quickly, while her roommates were still asleep, she pulled her box out from under her bed and undid the spell she put on it, before taking out the three _ofuda_ she had put at the seams. Carefully, she took out its contents and considered them, before picking up the Konoha-marked _hitae-ate_ and gloves and putting the rest back in the box. Unlike those three Ravenclaw idiots she had heard about, she was only going to wear it- discretely at that- not use it to play around in the halls.

Plus, she figured her date would like it.

Fei barely managed to keep a goofy grin off her face. Okay, so it wasn't really a date- a date was acknowledged by both parties- but it was as good as. Ever since she'd made eye-contact with Winter Moon, she had been captivated. Of course, she wouldn't admit it under heavy torture, but she was. There was something about her, some indefinable quality, which made her… interesting.

Carefully, she tied her forehead protector Hinata-style around her neck. It should be discrete enough there, she figured. Better than if she tied it on her head or around her forearm. No one would notice the gloves given the length of her school robes' sleeves.

Idly, she wondered if she should bring any weapons besides her sword, like a _kunai_ or _shuriken_, but decided it was overkill. This was a dat- meeting, not a cosplay.

Yup, that was it. She'd just meet Winter. Nothing to get excited about…

Hah!

Time never seemed to move so slowly…

----------------------------------------

Winter Moon sat in the library later that day, reading through one of her _very_ thick stacks of paper. Currently, Sasuke-succubus just got her shirt ripped off, giving everyone a good look at her bandaged chest. Ino and Sakura were slowly coming to grips with the fact that the 'guy' they and every girl in the village had been swooning over since they could remember was really a girl. Naruto was going nuts realizing that a girl kept beating him at everything. Orochimaru's brain was slowly rebooting as he realized he'd be possessing another girl…

Reaching the bottom, Winter was about to turn over the page when she heard a sound behind her. She turned.

Lee stood there, looking a bit nervous and out of place, but Winter really didn't notice that. What she noticed was the almost-hidden sash of cloth around Lee's neck, where a plate of metal was nearly completely covered by the collar of Lee's robe.

Winter nearly squealed, managing to keep sound to a minimum as she for all intents and purposes jumped out of her chair and into Lee's face.

Well, into her neck, but it was pretty much the same thing.

"Oh my gosh, is that a _hitae-ate_?" Winter squeaked, staying barely below the accepted noise level. "A _Konoha_ _hitae-ate_?"

"Um, yes?" Lee said.

"Oh my gosh, I'm _so_ jealous," Winter gushed. "All the anime store back home has are some lousy Ota protectors. Who wants to be in Orochi-ville?"

Then Winter blinked, finally catching sight of Lee's face. Lee's rather red, flushed face. "Hey, are you alright? You're not coming down with anything, are you?"

The redness in Lee's face deepened. "Ah, I'm just feeling a little warm. It's nothing, really."

In a blink, Winter was smiling again. "Okay. That's good to know. It would be a shame if my new friend got sick." Winter suddenly caught sight of the other person she had been waiting for. She waved enthusiastically. "Over here, Harry!"

Thankfully, Madam Pinch wasn't anywhere in range.

Winter was oblivious to the change in mood as Fei Lee turned around and came face to face with Harry Potter.

----------------------------------------

Fei glared. Potter glared. They managed to make their dislike of each other's presence evident in a mere 1/6th of a second, using the rest of the time to repeat the message over and over again. Eternity was contracted into one hate-filled moment before Winter broke the spell.

"Harry! It's great to see you!" Winter said, suddenly hugging the surprised Card Captor. Pulling back, the Ravenclaw girl smiled at him. "You know, this is probably the first time we've met when I'm not reading. Or about to fall down the stairs."

Potter smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that _did_ seem to happen a lot."

Fei started to growl at the back of her throat. Thankfully, no one heard. How come _she_ hadn't rated a hug?

Winter seemed to hear the sound, and turned apologetically to Fei. "Oh, I almost forgot. Harry, this is Fei Lee, although she likes to be called just Lee. Lee, this is Harry Potter."

The two mentioned blinked and looked at her as if she'd just grown a second head. They were subtle about it, though. Seriously, why was she introducing them? The whole _school_ knew they hated each other.

Winter seemed to take their looks as something else, though. "Oh, do you already know each other?"

"We've met," Potter and Fei said in unison, then glared again.

Winter giggled. "Jinx! You both owe me a chocolate frog. This is _so_ cool! My to new friends know each other. It must be fate!"

The two gave her the 'two heads' look again.

----------------------------------------

"Is it just me, or is she completely oblivious to the fact we hate each other?" Harry muttered into empty air as Winter went off to get her papers. There was no way he was having a civil conversation with Lee. Certainly not! He was just talking out loud, musing, that was all.

Fei deliberately looked at a bookcase. There was no way in Shayol Ghul she was going to let Potter think she was talking to him. Nope, none at all. "I guess Moon's not the kind who listens to what goes on around her much. Spends all her time reading, from the looks of it."

Harry glared at her. "Are you talking to me?" he all but growled out.

Fei sniffed. That Potter had a lot of nerve, thinking he was worth her time. "Of course not, scar-head! Why would I-"

"I'm back!" Winter said, suddenly appearing, and the two stiffen, before trying to act casual and not as if they were about to jump down each other's throats just a second ago. "Sorry I took so long. Shall we go?"

Without waiting for a reply, the silver-haired girl grabbed their elbows and started to drag them in her wake out of the library. The two, about to glare at each other, immediately stiffened. Harry blushed, while Fei went a delicate shade of crimson.

After a while of being dragged through thankfully empty halls, Harry finally managed to speak up. "Um, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

----------------------------------------

'You'll see' turned out to be a small rise in the school grounds. They had somehow managed to reach it without a single student, teacher or ghost seeing them, for which Harry and Fei were grateful. They both had reputations to consider, after all!

Reaching the top, Winter let go of their hands, rushing towards the highest point and taking a deep breath, facing the sun. The two with her took the opportunity to give the other death-glares. They'd learned from the best, after all, and few could beat Snape.

"Um, Winter…" Harry began, but Winter cut him off.

"What do you think?" Winter said, twirling around and gesturing around her. "From here, you've got the _best_ view of the sunset for miles. At sun-down," she turned, pointing towards the west, were the sun was slowly coming towards the horizon, "the sun's going to set right between those mountains and light up the lake. It's always spectacular."

"Although," Winter said, turning back towards the two, "not many people in Hogwarts know that. I'm one of the handful that do. And now, so are you."

"Moon…" Fei said, then stopped. Winter just smiled.

"This is where I take all my new friends," she said, walking back towards them and pulling them towards the tree that grew on the rise. Settling down beneath it, she pulled Harry and Fei next to her on either side. Harry managed to sit gracefully, considering he had been pulled down from a standing position, but Fei seemed to stumble, bumping against Winter before stiffening and pulling back, her blush back with a vengeance. Luckily, the light from the setting sun disguised her shade when Winter looked at her.

"I show them the sunset," Winter continued, leaning back against the tree and against Harry's shoulder. Harry flushed slightly. Winter didn't notice. "It's the most beautiful thing to see here at Hogwarts, so I think it's the best gift I can give my friends."

_Okay,_ thought Harry, _I really better clear this up before we pass the point of no return._

"Winter," Harry began again, "there's something you should know about me and Lee."

"Hm?" Winter turned towards Harry, who almost lost his nerve when those brown eyes met his. They had no right to sparkle like that! Bravely, he continued. "You see, Lee and I don't really get along that well. I mean, she's in Slytherin, and I'm in Gryffindor-"

"But somehow the two of you still manage to be friends!" Winter interrupted, smiling brightly. "I mean, any regular Gryffindor and Slytherin would be fighting with each other right now, but look at you two! If you keep this up as an example, Gryffindor and Slytherin will be friends again one day."

With that, she puts an arm around the two of them (rebooting Fei's blush yet again!), and turning them towards the sun. "Now come on. Let's watch the sunset."

----------------------------------------

From Gryffindor tower's common room window, Ron and Hermione watch the cozy little scene. Both of them are smiling proudly, kind of like the way a parent does when their kid gets an award. From their angle, they can't see Fei.

"Look at those two," Ron said, shaking his head in amusement and approval.

"That Harry's pretty sly," Hermione agreed. "Fast worker, too. If he keeps this up, he'll use up all our advice in two weeks."

Ron gave her a look. "_My_ advice, you mean. I don't think Harry's ready for what you had in mind."

"What-_ever_ do you mean, Ron?" Hermione said innocently, batting her eyelashes, a twinkle quite unlike Dumbledore's in her eyes. All she had to do was poke a little, and Harry would be well on his way to getting laid! And it would be all thanks to her!

----------------------------------------

A cool breeze blew across the Hogwarts grounds. The sun had finally set, the lake's fire had cooled to velvet. High on the rise, the three sat, Winter still leaning on Harry. None said anything, not wanting to break the spell of the moment, a spell more powerful than any they had been taught, yet infinitely more fragile. Eternity seemed to envelope them, keeping the bubble of wonder they had made around themselves.

It broke when Winter's head drooped onto Fei's shoulder and she started to snore.

While Lee blushed red for the nth time that day, Harry waved his hand over Winter's face. "I don't believe it," Harry said. "She's asleep."

The mood changed slightly. A chemist would say that now that Winter was asleep, the enzyme had been removed from the mixture. Element Harry and element Fei would now combine with lots of heat and explosive force.

For a time, neither spoke.

"I'm not telling her," Harry said, breaking the silence. "Are you?"

Fei looked at the face of the girl on her shoulder. Brown eyes were now covered by pale lids, the face, now in repose, artistically framed by strands of silver hair. She imagined what expression it would hold once it's owner. Would they still look at her the same way when she learned the truth?

"No," Fei said, still looking at the face of the girl beside her. "I won't." She didn't know, but she did not want the girl next to her to look at her in that light. She didn't think she could take it. "Truce?"

Harry leaned back, his face slightly shadowed. Something about how Lee had been acting disturbed him for some reason, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Still, it made him uneasy. "When she's around, truce," he agreed.

Fei nodded, then knowing that it would only be a heartbeat before one of them said something, began to nudge Winter awake. "Moon," she nearly cooed (sending Harry's eyebrows to the stratosphere, as he hadn't thought Lee's voice could sound like that) as she gently nudged the girl beside her. "Wake up. Supper's going to be served soon."

_Actually_, Harry thought as Winter stirred, _from the sound of it, supper was already being eaten. _

"Wh-huh?" Winter said as she blinked cutely, rubbing her eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

"You did," Potter said softly, making Fei give him a look. He had no right to sound that soft!

"Oh," Winter said, shakily getting up, supported by Lee. Harry glared at her. He was the guy, _he's_ supposed to be the one to do that! "We'd better go inside."

The three began to walk down the slope, the two on either side of Winter. Now that they had officially become friends (according to Winter), the silver-haired girl was silent, seemingly just enjoying their company. Nothing more was said until they were a stone's throw from the front door.

"Say, Winter," Harry said hesitantly.

"Hm?" the girl said.

"I was hoping we could, you know, keep this to ourselves. My being friends with Lee, I mean," Harry fumbled, trying to seem guileless. "It's just that, if our Housemates knew, they… wouldn't understand," he finished lamely. "I mean, they'd give us a hard time and stuff, and…"

"Say no more, "Winter said brightly, smiling wide and somehow giving Harry a Maito-Gai-and-Rock-Lee impression. "I, Winter Moon, shall keep secret this flame of friendship from those who would dare snuff it out by their heartless words and deeds! It's power, youth and vitality will not be allowed to die! This I swear, IN THE NAME OF THE MOON!"

The two winced slightly as her voice rose at that last.

Fei broke the weirded-out silence that followed. "**_Naruto _**and **_Sailor Moon _**otaku, I see," she said dryly. "Do you do that often, Moon?"

Winter giggled. "Actually, it's my first time, but _man_, I've always wanted to say that!"

Harry chuckled slightly, and he could have sworn Lee did the same. "Come on, let's go in."

They walked towards the door, apart this time (Winter apparently meant what she said, insane as it had sounded when spoken). Walking a little behind Winter, Harry glanced at Lee, she had done the same. 'This never happened,' he mouthed at her.

Fei nodded grimly.

"What are you nodding about, Lee?" Winter said, surprising them.

"Nothing," Fei said, managing to make it sound natural. "Although I was thinking… let's look at the sunset again some time?"

"Definitely," Harry nodded.

Winter smiled brightly again. "How about tomorrow?"

The two Card users looked at each other, both faces neutral, before nodding.

"Okay," Potter said.

"We'll be there," Lee affirmed.

"Cool!" Winter said, opening the doors, then stepping back as Harry gallantly did it for her, giving him a thankful smile that set Fei's teeth on edge. "It's a date!"

Harry's hand on the door slipped as Fei turned red once more…

----------------------------------------

**- To be continued...**

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A/N: How's that? I intend to flesh out Fei some more, so that she's not a total Syaoran clone, and Winter… well, she makes things interesting for the two, so there:-p Now the hard part for me begins: weaving this all into a CLAMP- and Rowling-quality plot…

It's a logical partnership: Ravenclaws make the odds; Hufflepuffs make up the betting rings, both live off the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Thus is the Hogwarts economy. The twins are entrepreneurs. What else could you call them?

Harry, the slightly perverted fanfic writer of Hogwarts (as in lemon scenes, but tastefully done. Really, how bad can a thirteen year old write? My fics at thirteen were horrendous!). I couldn't help it! He only updates during the summers. I pity his fans. Good thing for you guys _I _don't go to Hogwarts. XD This is set in a wonderful alternate universe where ffnet still has NC-17 fics. XD Imagine, old ffnet with Naruto fics… -_drool "SakuInoTemaTenHinaKureShizuAnko…" drool_-

Hermione, the cheesy slash writer. She can't be good at everything, and it's the kind of thing she'd write. XD

They're only in their third or so week at school. Lee's pretty antisocial, so she doesn't really know a lot of people. Kind of like Syaoran.

Winter is pretty spaced out from reading her fanfics, so she doesn't know about Fei and Harry's 'encounters'. Although she's not as spaced out as she may seem…

_**DID I JUST WRITE SLYTHERIN ANGST! ARGH, MY EYES ARE TAINTED!**_

How do you like Harry's ffnet handle? Anyone who wants to use the fic titles I mentioned is free to do so, but I have dibs on 'Sasuke Darkstalker'. Sasuke as a girl _and _a succubus is just something I can't get out of my head!

I wanted to use Mirror or Light, but after all that dirty stuff, I figured something innocent and light-hearted was in order. I'm assuming Dash is female. Actually, unless otherwise stated, all the non-anthropomorphic Cards are female.

Shayol Ghul is a **_Wheel of Time _**reference. Those who've read it would agree it's an appropriate word to use.

To **AzureSky123**: To your first question, Lee's family is the only one who knew who Clow Reed _was_. The rest were either one-night stands with women who didn't know who he was or he used magical birth control (he could do it!). To the next ones, in order; they will be hinted at, no, no, 'til seven, more-or-less.

To **HarbringerLady**: This soon enough? XD

To **Dumbledork**: nice to hear from you again.

To **damon blade**: Will do!

To **Baka Shinobi**: may I suggest checking out shoujoai dot com for more of the same? XD

To **Magnificent the Destroyer Lord**: I'm trying to work it in. I like bed sce- brilliant chapters too. Yes, I'm using all the Clow Cards, although I won't show all being caught, just the fun ones. Too time-consuming. I'll list the Cards at the ends of Chapters every so often, so you guys don't lose track. Sorry I made you fall off your chair -_sheepish grin_-

'Maelstrom Cards'. Hmm. I'll think about it. That incident you mentioned is after she becomes Mistress of the Cards. Harry isn't Master yet. Not sure if he could use multiple at once. I'll have to write it in eventually.

To **Ran Hoshino**: No suggestions, Ran? That's okay, I don't want to be accused of being an interactive fic anyway. More Hermione-deviant-behavior-but-totally-in-character when I think of some. There will be hints on the Meilin situation (there are a few in this chap and quite a number in the **Gaiden** in the last, so keep your eye out), as well as subtle foreshadowing regarding Fei's position with regards to CCS canon. Oh-kay, where did those boggart snake-villains come from? -_panics_- Get them away before they give my characters villain-cooties! -_sprays them with 'VillainAway_- DIE! DIE!

To **Lina Thanatos**: No, Remus is not another Kaho. Excellent point about The Illusion Card, I forgot about that. And the guy's name is Touya.

To **LostGryffindorFoundSlytherin**: The Twin and Sword Cards are accounted for. Thanks for the ideas for The Bubbles Card, couldn't think of a way to write it in.

Please review, C&C welcome. Those who send flames will be made to keep the ghost who has a crush on Clow company.

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Honestly, I thought my clues were pretty blatant! No one knew what they meant? Either I'm getting better at writing or WB _really_ messed up CCS in NA. Is it really Card-crap-tors?

Okay, here's my only explicit clue: who in CCS has Fei's eyes? That's all I'm saying!

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"**Active Time Event" or "Rivals Gaiden 1: 'You Both Owe Me!'"**

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Harry turned to Lee the minute Winter was out of range. No one was around for the moment, so this was the best time to say this.

Fei turned to Potter the minute Winter was out of range. No one was around for the moment, so this was the best time to say this.

"This never happened," both said, then glared at the other. "Stop repeating me," they chorused. "No, you stop. No, _you_ stop. No, you. No, _you_. YOU! _YO-_"

"JINX!" Winter said from behind them, causing them both to jump. "Now you both each owe me a chocolate frog and a Pumpkin Pasty."

"Darn…" both muttered, then exchanged a look.

"JINX!"

They both groaned, palming their faces.

"JINX! Man, you're both so easy…"

**----------------------------------------**

"**Letters Home"**

**----------------------------------------**

The boy took the letter from the barn owl, who gave a tired hoot and flapped off. The boy smiled sadly. He had only sympathy for the bird. It was a long way back to the British Islands, and if you were flying under your own power…

Trying not to think about it- jet lag from flying on a plane was bad enough; flying by flapping must be way worse- the boy went back to his bed and sat back against the headboard. It was the middle of the night where he was, and the sounds of the night flowed through the open window, but it was never too late- or early- to read one of his dear cousin's letters.

Looking at the date on the corner to see how current the news was- four days old- the boy carefully opened the envelope and took out the sheet of paper inside, wrapped around by an _ofuda_ with his name on it. Pressing his thumb on a certain seal, the band of paper fell away instead of exploding violently and taking off his hands. His cousin always _was_ paranoid.

Skipping over his name, he skimmed the sheet until he got to the meat of the letter. He smiled brightly. Apparently, his little cousin (he chuckled at that. It was a running joke between them, even though she had been taller than him when they were younger, for a time, anyway) had managed to catch her first Clow Card. Good for her, he thought. There was also a note thanking him for the **_Naruto_ **stuff he had sent over. Really, after taking so long to get around to it, it was the least he could do.

He skimmed through the rest. She was doing well in her studies; her aunt- and his mother- would be pleased, and he was glad she'd be under slightly less pressure to perform. Guy named Malfoy was bothering her, but that was alright, she could take care of herself. History of Magic, boring as all outdoors; Arithmancy, she was plowing through it like a dolphin in the ocean. He smiled at that. Her and math.

It was at the very last paragraph of the letter, a postscript, really, right after her, 'With love, Fei'. It was a carefully worded question that sent a grin on his face and at the same time made him sigh in regret. His cousin was growing up. First love, and it would _have _to be with someone in her new school. It was like only yesterday she was laughing at his predicament.

Actually, the last time he had seen her, she _had_ been laughing at his predicament.

Still, he really shouldn't be one to talk. He was growing a little- okay, more than a little- that way himself. He looked at his nightstand, where two frames stood where he could easily see it. Three kids were shown in one, the three of them three years ago. He stood in the center, a slightly harried look on his face. Fei stood on his right, one arm around his neck, the other in a 'V' sign; her sister stood to his left, clamped on to his arm possessively and smiling brightly at the camera, her face rubbing against his. That had been before family destiny sent him away, only for him to return in failure. Now, it was Fei's turn, and she had _not_ failed.

He looked at the other frame, and blushed slightly, not as badly as Fei would have, but he had a lot of experience in this field. The picture was slightly obscured by light being reflected of it, but he really didn't need to see it. It was all there in his mind's eye. Yes, he had definitely grown that way.

Tucking the latest letter and envelope into the drawer beneath the pictures, which was already half-full of similar missives, he lay back in his bed and prayed that his favorite cousin would become as happy as he wished to be…

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"**End ATE"**

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Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

(Don't you just hate it when your muse works faster than you do? She has things up to the sixth year! I'll be lucky if I write that long! Hopefully, I'll hit fourth year by Christmas or summer, well, March, since summer and Christmas come at the same time in some parts of the world. Oh, and I will not be entertaining questions about Yue. Just read. Please?)


	9. Swords and Sorcery

A/N: Finally, my muse is letting me work on this! After that little excursion with my inner-romantic, it's back to all the action as Fei and Harry (ladies first) return to business: trashing each other while getting Cards!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 9, The Silent: Swords and Sorcery

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Card Captor Sakura. I don't know how anyone could think I do. People all know better, don't they?

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Harry gulped nervously, eyes parting around for openings out of this trap. There were none. His hunters were too good, their strategy too effective. He was doomed.

The hunters had been patient. Professional. They'd waited, bid their time, waiting until he'd let his guard down.

Then… they'd struck!

Their ambush had been planned such that he wouldn't try to escape. Their containment method was such that people wouldn't be suspicious of why he was remaining in one place.

And now, the hunters were about to try to reap the fruits of their labor. Harry wasn't stupid. He knew he'd crack very quickly under their evil methods. Still, he was determined to resist for as long as possible. He was a Gryffindor, after al!

"So," Hermione said, that evil Mitsune-Kitsune-and-Jiraiya grin plastered on her face. "Details! We want details. We want every juicy, hot, steamy nugget of everything that happened!"

Harry prayed Kero would find a suitable Card Captor to take care of his dear girls should he not survive the interrogation.

Funny. He'd never thought of the Cards as 'his dear girls' before…

That was his last thought before the evil Dark Lady Hermione began her torture.

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Fei was on cloud nine, which was a half-block from the silver lining and down the road from over the rainbow. Since she wasn't really a 'shout-to-the-skies-for-joy' kind of person, her euphoria was being expressed in a rather serene, secretive smile, which was really creeping out her fellow Slytherins as they wondered what she had in mind.

Two straight dates with Winter. Two! Granted, Potter had been there, but so what? That was more than her cousin could claim after meeting _his_ girlfriend. It took him a year, two conniving brats, and exposure to enough sweetness to almost give him diabetes for him to even _try_ to make a move.

Fe's smile slipped a little as this thought passed through her head. Another blush threatened to flush her cheeks (and neck, and chest, and arms, and legs…), but she restrained it, not wanting to be seen like that in public. Girlfriend. That word had a nice ring to it. Girlfriend… the more she said it, the nicer it sounded.

Suppressing the irrational urge to giggle, she tried to keep a straight face as she headed for the Great Hall…

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Harry tried to keep an eye on Hermione as they made their way to breakfast. She'd been muttering things under her breath ever since they'd left Gryffindor tower.

For some reason, she'd been rather put off to learn that his 'dates' with Winter weren't the cozy affairs she'd imagined them to be. At first she'd nodded, and he could have sworn she muttered something about how he'd still be able to get laid later. He'd shaken it off as his imagination, until he got to the parts about Lee. It was then she'd started muttering darkly, which really creeped Harry out, as he wasn't used to Hermione being this blatantly weird.

As they reached the Entrance Hall, Hermione stopped muttering, and Harry had a split-second to breath a sigh of relief when he made eye contact with Lee.

Familiar instincts kicked in, and the two of them started bashing each other without so much as an opening 'greeting'. Instead, they went straight to the 'good stuff' they usually had to build up to. It was a welcome change for Harry after the grilling he'd gotten, and Lee apparently found it so as well. He'd somehow found out how to tell her mood while they did this, and it seemed like she was actually cheerful this morning! He was as well, although Hermione had killed it a little.

They'd gone past insulting each other's Houses and were well into hitting each other with creative word-combinations when Harry felt someone approaching that made his blood run cold. The way Lee's eye's widened in fear meant she'd felt it too. Suddenly, what had started out as morning stress relief became something far more dangerous.

Thinking quickly, Harry let out as disgusted snort, and turned his back on Lee, saying quite loudly, "Feh! You're not worth my time, you (censored for inappropriate content)!"

Harry could tell that Lee was grateful for the move by the way she yelled, "Come back here, you (censored for even _more_ inappropriate content)!"

The two of them managed to slip into the Great Hall before Winter showed up. Phew, that was close!

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Ron and Hermione kept giving him funny looks as the three of them made their way to the North Tower for Divination.

Finally, Harry rolled his eyes and decided to get straight to the point. "What?" he said.

The two exchanged looks, as if wondering which of them should be the first to talk. Harry rolled again and made an impatient sound. "Spit it out you two! I promise not to bite your heads off."

"Uh, you see mate," Ron began, "we were wondering what was up with that business with Lee in the Entrance Hall. You two usual keep going at each other until a professor arrives, or Percy."

Harry's mouth twisted slightly. "Oh. _That_. I wasn't really in the mood, so I decided to leave her hanging."

The two exchanged looks again.

"Alright, who are you and what have you done to the real Harry Potter?" Hermione said.

"Come off it, Hermione," Harry said as he started walking again.

"I'm serious!" she said as she and Ron followed. "Harry's always in the mood to bash Lee."

"We'll be late for class."

"Aha! Harry was never worried about being late for class! Especially not Divination!"

All three didn't notice the slashed painting they passed.

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After a morning of Divination, which seemed more tedious than usual, followed by Transfiguration, it was off to lunch. When they arrived, the whole Hall was buzzing. Harry immediately took that as a bad sign. Whenever that happened, it was immediately followed by something that brought him close to great physical harm. There almost seemed to be some kind of pattern...

"Did you hear?" Dean said as they approached the Gryffindor table.

Harry was struck by an odd sense of déjà vu as Ron said, "Uh, no?"

Not even a week before the whole school had finally calmed down from the student-beater scare, and already another nut had crawled out of the woodwork. It seemed this one had vandalized a couple of paintings, slashing them quite thoroughly. The paintings residents claimed not to have seen a thing, and were screaming that a madman was loose.

Strangely, this news threw the student body for a loop and caused a greater panic then the student-beatings had. The student beatings, they could understand, on one level. But why would some nut go around vandalizing the paintings? Sure, they could be a little confusing (an in isolated cases, annoying), but kind of overkill, don't you think?

All this convinced the students that an outsider was somehow doing this, a madman who had some kind of insane grudge against paintings. With the alert for Sirius Black still up, this was a grave cause for concern. After all, if someone could get in, so could Black…

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Harry left the Gryffindor common room, not even waiting for Ron and Hermione. Although most of the school had gone back into the patterns they'd adopted during the student-beating incidents, Harry hadn't, something that Hermione berated him for, citing how if someone could get into Hogwarts to do crazy things like that, then so could Sirius Black. Harry had ignored her warnings, however. If his supposition was correct, then no one was getting in to Hogwarts (the traditional way, anyway). Whoever was doing this was already _in_.

Wandering around, he tried to get a feel for things. Unlike The Fight Card, the incidents weren't isolated to any one area, nor were there any identifiable patterns. Some nights, only one painting in a hallway was vandalized, others, different paintings in opposite ends of the school. That meant that whoever as doing this was highly mobile.

Lost in thought, Harry almost bumped into someone before his sense blared that they were practically on top of them. Looking up from his study, Harry swerved just in time to avoid Winter. Suppressing a sigh and a smile, he reached for her shoulder. "You know, we really have to stop meeting like this."

Winter looked up, startled. "Oh, Harry! Hi! What are you doing here?"

Harry shrugged. "Pacing. And trying to prevent you from walking off the stairs at the end of this hall," he said, jerking his thumb in the direction Winter had been going.

Winter blushed. "You must think I'm such a flake. I mean, you keep telling me to stop reading when I'm walking, but I keep doing it anyway."

But Harry waved her off. "Hey, what are friends for? Besides, I know what it's like to get lost in a good read."

Winter beamed. "Thanks for understanding."

Harry ducked his head, somehow suddenly embarrassed. "Tell you what. It's almost time for breakfast, so why don't I escort you down to the Great Hall so you can keep on reading?"

Winter blushed. "I wouldn't want to be a bother, and it would be kind of rude of me to-"

But Harry waved her off. "Not a bother. Come one, just take my hand."

It took all his self-control not to blush as he said that. Taking her hand, he started to lead her towards the Great Hall, and after a while, she went back to reading, trusting he was leading her safely. They had to take a couple of stairs down, but they were able to handle that.

Once they arrive at the Entrance Hall, Harry shakes Winter back to the present.

"Huh?" Winter said, looking around. "We're here already?"

Harry nodded. "Yup! Told you it would work."

Winter beamed. "Thanks, Harry!" she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. She skipped off.

Harry stood there, a wide-eyed look on his face, stock still, for a good ten minutes before a wide smile slowly crept over his face. "**Yes!**"

He was in a good mood all day.

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That night, after making sure everyone was asleep, Harry took out his ever-handy invisibility cloak, Clow Cards and wands and woke up Keroberos. Sneaking down to the common room, he was glad that the teachers hadn't gone back to patrolling the corridors yet. The portraits, however, were another matter. They'd all decided to take matters into their own hands, roaming the school in groups until they caught the vandal. That meant that it wasn't such a good idea to wake up the Fat Lady, as she may suspect him of being the vandal. So it was back to the window drop…

After an exhilarating fall that left the Sun Guardian annoyed as heck (really, why did he go like this every time _Harry_ dropped down from a height?), Harry snuck back into the school using the same window he'd used before. They were both completely silent this time. None of the portraits were sleeping, too worked up with the thought of their canvas being the next victim. Harry mentally reviewed the spell Kero had taught him earlier that day. The little being had told him it could be used to knock the paintings out, as well as people, in case they needed to.

Gripping his Sealing Wand, Harry crept cautiously down the darkened hallways of the school. A part of his mind idly made a note to research on a night-vision spell, since he seemed to do this creeping-in-the-dark thing often. Either that, or get a 'Hand of Glory'. His senses were extended to their utmost. He was almost 99.9 sure that a Card was behind all this, he just wasn't sure which one.

He paused as something tickled his senses momentarily, than disappeared. Kero poked him in the side. He'd felt it too.

Trying to remember where the feeling had come from, Harry crept a little faster. Passing a couple of ghosts who looked like they were trying to bring back that old feeling of life (he averted his eyes and kept on walking), Harry turned a corner and stopped, raising an eyebrow.

Every canvas in the hall he was in was slashed.

Jackpot!

Knowing that Filch took down damaged portraits for repair (they'd seen him grumbling about it a few times, muttering about what he'd do to the students who'd done it when he caught them), Harry looked around to see why no one had raised an alarm. He found the nearest canvasses empty, so there were no immediate solutions there. Shrugging and hoping that no one came any time soon, Harry began to walk down the hallway, looking for clues.

He'd taken about three steps when he realized someone else was there. He sighed, although it sort of came out as a growl.

"Lee." That _was_ a growl.

"Potter," he heard.

"Is it the priss again?" Kero muttered.

"Yeah," Harry muttered back.

"Great. Just great!"

"What are you doing here?" Harry said.

"I have as much right to be here as you do," Lee said, sounding rather smug.

Harry sniffed. "Why don't you go back to bed and leave this to the expert."

"_Expert_? You can't be talking about _yourself_, are you?" Lee sneered.

"Hey, _which_ of us here can't even Seal a Card?" Harry shot back.

And so on so forth. An ear trained in the way of their 'conversations' would register that the two really weren't putting their backs into it, although they were both giving as good as they got. They seemed mainly annoyed by having someone else around and having another body to worry about during this nocturnal stroll. That, and the fact they were missing out on sleep.

Neither noticed the figure creeping up behind them.

It was a really strange 'conversation'. Both were still wearing their invisibility cloaks, so an uninformed person might think that two ghosts were having a bash-fest.

Harry had initially stalked towards the general direction of Lee's voice, and was now only thee inches away from her face, if his sense could be believed. He ignored Kero tugging on his shirt, too focused on the (invisible) girl in front of him.

Thus, it was only the dumbest of luck that he heard a creak and moved just in time to avoid getting his head cut off. Next to him, he could feel Lee doing the same. Stepping back, he gripped his Sealing Wand, then was thrown for a loop as he got a good look at his attacker.

"Huh?" he said, echoed by Lee. Neither noticed.

It was one of the suits of armor that stood around Hogwarts and which Harry always suspected could walk. They certainly had a degree of sentience, as Harry had heard some laughing at students who'd stumbled in the halls or something. But where did vandalism fit in? Why had it attacked them just now? What did Clow Cards have to do with it? These and other important questions ("What did girls find so attractive about Malfoy? Why was Hermione suddenly turning out to be a pervert? Why did writers think it was such a good idea to send him to Middle Earth? Why not Randland? Why do updates take so long? What is it with Veela Malfoys, anyway? Why is it so hard to make Naruto and Harry compatible without dimensional travel? Wh…?") whirled around Harry's head.

Suddenly, they were all overtaken by one pressing question: "Was that suit of armor, raising a sword and looking about to swing, aiming for them?"

It turned out that the answer to this was a simple: "YES, NOW **RUN** YOU IDIOT!"

Ducking as he narrowly avoided a brain-haircut, Harry 'eep'-ed, stumbling to the side as he heard Lee going in the opposite direction. Trying to keep the crazy, homicidal suit of armor in sight, Harry lost a little of his composure as it took a threatening-looking step towards him…

Okay, to be honest, he lost his head and ran.

Behind him, he heard the armor crashing off…

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Harry ran about two hallways before he realized that the big, metal-plated dude wasn't running after him to cut him into Harry fillet. Pausing, and trying to keep his invisibility cloak from falling off, he tried to catch his breath.

Kero suddenly flew up to him, or at least, where his face should be. "Why the heck did you run away like that?" he said, sounding annoyed.

Harry pulled back his hood, giving the little Guardian an annoyed look. "In case you haven't noticed, it was pointing a _sword_ at me!"

Kero gave him a look. "So that means you're just going to let that Lee-priss get this one?"

Harry blinked, looking around. Seeing nothing and no one, he crunched up his eyebrows, concentrating. Dimly, he could feel Lee in the distance, with the sense of a Clow Card close by.

Harry ground his teeth. "Oh, FRICK!" he said, running towards that direction, leaving Kero to hurry after him, saying, "**Wait for me, will you?**"

Using all his quickness (even though he didn't look it), Harry dashed towards Lee's location. No way was he letting her get _this_ Card, even if he had no idea what it was…

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Fei dodged to the left, feinting as she lashed out with a kick, only to pull back before she lost that limb, her blade darting as she tried to exploit yet-another opening and barely pulling back before she lost something valuable. Sweat beaded her face, soaking the cloth of the _hitae-ate_ on her head- Hidden Sand tonight- and making her hair cling to her face. At best, the latter was a distraction; at worst, it would get her killed.

She'd ditched her invisibility cloak a while back- no point in going unseen if the enemy could still tell where you were, and it hindered her movements. As it was, she would have preferred to fight naked, as that would give her the highest degree of mobility possible. For an empty hunk of metal, the suit of armor was _good_.

Empty. That was a bit of a problem. No matter what Fei did, if the suit of armor was empty, how was she supposed to defeat it? It practically radiated Clow's magic, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember any of the Cards she'd studied as having this effect. And as a little bonus, it didn't seem to be getting tired.

Barely ducking under a cut, she pointed her sword at the suit of armor. "_Flipendo!_" she managed to gasp out, and a blast of blue magic knocked back the pesky suit of armor, sending it stumbling and giving Fei some much need breathing room. Putting more space between her and the armor, Fei pulled the only Card she had from the pocket she'd made in her sleeve.

"Clow Card, show me your true power. FIGHT CARD!" Fei managed to breath out, slamming the tip of her sword into the Card.

In a burst of light, Fight stood protectively in front of Fei, crouched in a ready stance. Fei breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned back against a wall. "Attack," she said, pointing at the suit of armor.

"Yes, Mistress," Fight said evenly, and charged at the suit, bombarding it with a storm of kicks and punches.

For a moment, Fei had a warm, fuzzy feeling as Fight called her Mistress, followed immediately by a full-body-blush as she remembered what happened _last_ time she summoned The Fight. She begged anyone listening to her for that not to happen again.

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Fight held back an annoyed sigh as she kept on pounding the suit in front of her. Really, it wasn't fair for her sibling to be using an absurdly tough and insensible-to-pain body. Still, it was good to be material again, and doing what she did best: beating the snot out off anyone and everyone who thought they could beat her!

Back flipping, she darted forward before her sibling could have it's suit-of-armor body recover from its move and, getting under its defense, crouched almost directly below the armor and kicked it straight up in a vaguely 'Konoha Senpu'-esque move. There was a satisfying crunch as the suit of armor's head slammed into the ceiling and was crushed.

Fight rolled out of the way in time to avoid a downward slash from the still very-much-still-mobile suit on its way down. She was tempted to sigh. Her sibling wasn't fighting fair! Granted, she had more unarmed fighting skills in her than any other person currently on the planet, but that wasn't going to get her anywhere if her target _just wouldn't go down because it was an inanimate object!_

Two familiar magical signatures made themselves known to her as she did her best to keep her sibling's possessed body away from her mistress. She recognized them both. One was master Kero, in his minor form, the other, the boy who had Sealed her days ago. Processing this information for a moment, she decided they were irrelevant. All her mistress had ordered her to do was attack her sibling's possessed body, so that's all she would do. Still, she hoped this boy, master Kero's appointed Card Captor (yes, she _had_ been listening), would think up a plan to help save her mistress. Although she'd heard about how much her mistress disliked this boy, she just couldn't bring herself to feel the same way. The little she'd been able to observe of him showed he was a good person, something all Clow Cards were supernaturally good at identifying, and she instinctively knew that he'd try to find some way to help her mistress, even if they _didn't_ quite see eye-to-eye.

In the meantime, she held her ground and did as she'd been told…

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Ditching his own invisibility cloak and stashing it safely into a handy space, Harry turned the corner and took in the situation. Lee, leaning against the wall and catching her breath, The Fight Card going all Rock Lee on the now-headless suit of armor, who was still going strong. Harry immediately saw the problems of the scenario. Since the armor wasn't alive, or capable of feeling pain, it couldn't be stopped by successive physical attacks, unless they managed to completely destroy the whole thing in one blow, and Harry knew _he _didn't know any spells capable of doing that, and apparently, neither did Lee, since she would have used it already.

Not waiting for Kero to catch up, Harry reached into his robe and pulled out the first Clow Card he touched. His eyebrow rose as he saw it, and a small smile twitched on his lips. He'd just had a Yu-Gi-Oh moment.

"Clow Card, show me your true power. WOOD CARD!"

The Wood Card appeared in the flash of magic he was so used to, and he pointed at the suit of armor. "Go for it," he said.

The Wood Card grinned, raising her hands. Multiple streams of vines shot out parting around The Fight and wrapping around the suit of armor. At first, the suit was able to hack at the vines wrapping around it's limbs, but it was soon overwhelmed, and slowly torn apart as from the multiple appendages pulling at it. Harry suddenly shuddered as he recalled the traumatic twelve seconds of henticle he'd been exposed to as a kid, which had left him seriously disturbed for a week and given him an uncanny ability to write lemons.

Finally, the suit of armor was completely torn apart, it's metal pieces clattering all over the floor. Harry prayed no one heard that.

"Looks like you could use a little help, Lee," Harry said jauntily as he walked over towards the suit of armor's part. Behind him, Wood waved briefly to Fight, who responded with a polite nod. Lee growled at Harry, who takes a nonchalant step back at the sword in her hands. Wood stifles a grin, and Fight's lips twitch slightly.

With a sniff, Lee manages to get back up, studiously stepping around Harry. Fight moves to stand by her side, like a protective, glow-in-the-dark angel. "So where's the Clow Card?" she says gruffly, looking at the now vine-free mess before her.

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," Harry said, almost smugly.

Lee growled, bending down to root through the pile.

"Hey, that's _my_ pile-" Harry started to protest, but he was interrupted by near simultaneous cries of "NO!" and "MISTRESS!" as a burst of magic was released from the pile, engulfing Lee.

Harry backed away quickly as Lee slowly straightened. "I should be really worried, shouldn't I?" he muttered to Wood.

"Yes," she muttered back. "You should."

Lee, eyes strangely blank, holding the sword the suit of armor had been holding in her right hand and her own sword in the other, attacked.

"Oh, frick…" Harry muttered.

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Wood reacted instantly, sending vines at the possessed girl to try to stop her charge. A human, however, especially a human _girl_, was a lot more nibble, flexible, agile and, over all, a better suited vessel than a rarely-oiled, rusty piece of metal. The girl slashed at her vines, her dual blades cutting through them with ease. Wood ignored the small pinpricks of pain as they were cut. She had to protect her Master!

Wood knew Fight would be out of commission. Her Mistress was currently unable to give her orders, so the best she could hope for was to sit in the sidelines and pray that _her_ Master could take care of this mess.

Wood was glad her master managed to retain his presence of mind, dodging back from the possessed girl and trying to keep his distance.

"Wood, get back!" her Master said. "It's not working. Get BACK!"

Obediently, Wood began to dissolve, but not before she managed to steal a kiss, briefly slipping her tongue between his lips. For a moment, she was vaguely concerned her Master would hesitate and get himself killed, but shrugged off the thought. She and her sisters had been doing this for a while now. If he still wasn't adjusted to it, there was something seriously wrong with him…

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Harry, right on schedule, when red at the feeling of lips on his and tongue in his mouth, but thankfully, he didn't let that stop him as he kept on backing away from Lee. He thought he could almost _feel_ the killer intent in the air as she charged.

"_Tarantallegra_" he said, casting it at Lee, who managed to dodge. By practically running up the wall.

"Oh, frick!" Harry repeated. He could practically see every bead of sweat on Lee's face as she slashed…

Harry was suddenly knocked out of the way as Fight grabbed him, tossing him out of the way as she herself jumped out of range. Harry quickly got to his feet, finding that Lee was- for the moment- targeting The Fight. Knowing it was only a matter of time before attention was returned to him, Harry pulled out his Cards, grabbing The Windy Card.

"WINDY CARD!" Harry yelled. Windy appeared before him, immediately sending yellow streamers at Lee as the hall turned into a wind tunnel. Lee stood her ground, stabbing both blades into the stone floor. As the streamers reached to enfold her, she slashed at them with the sword she held in her right, somehow cleaving right through them. Harry scowled. Okay, _this_ wasn't working either.

At that moment, Kero popped up. "I can't leave you alone for one minute, can I?" he said over the wind.

"Where the heck were you?" Harry said.

"Hey, I got lost, okay?" Kero defended himself. "What'd I miss?"

Harry gave him a withering look. "How about you tell me what Card _that_ is?" he said, pointing at Lee.

Kero looked at the possessed girl. "Sword Card. It can cut through anything."

"OH, just dandy!" Harry muttered. Suddenly, a memory popped in his head, one of a large hoard of dark shapes going after him…

"Kero," he said as he looked though his deck, "what does The Shadow Card do? Besides steal shadows, I mean. "

"It lets you use shadows to manipulate things," Kero said.

Harry nodded. "I thought as much," he said, drawing said Card out of the deck. "Windy, get back! SHADOW CAR-hmph!"

That's what he got for trying to summon another Card without waiting for the other one to finish with her goodbye kiss.

Blushing and ignoring a laughing Keroberos, Harry tried again. "SHADOW CARD!"

The dark, hooded form rose before Harry, and a slight shiver spread through his body as he was reminded of the Dementors. Instead, he pointed at the now moving Lee with his Sealing Wand. "_Lumos_!"

The possessed girl averted her eyes as the beam of light was pointed directly at her. "Stop her," Harry told The Shadow Card. As the Card waved its cloak-covered hand, dark, shadowy strands extended from its feet, merging with the giant shadow Lee projected onto the wall. Harry grinned suddenly, unable to resist.

"Hold this," he told Kero as he handed him the Sealing Wand. Kero blinked, taking the large artifact and keeping the beam trained on Lee as he gave his charge a look.

Grinning, Harry made a couple of hand seals he'd memorized. "_Kagemane no jutsu!_"

Kero rolled his eyes as the boy burst out giggling. "Crazy kid," he muttered.

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Fei blinked as the world came back into focus. The first thing she saw was the concerned face of The Fight Card. The second thing she saw was the smug face of Potter, holding a Card. Everything came back to her, and she let out a frustrated growl, at which Potter just laughed and turned away, a "Better luck next time- not!" thrown over his shoulder.

Grumbling, she got back to her feet, ignoring The Fight's hands. She could stand up by herself, thank you very much.

Shrugging, The Fight Card sketched a bow. "Will that be all, Mistress?" she said.

Fei made a lazy wave. "Yeah, sure."

She suddenly had a very disturbing sense of déjà vu.

Grinning, The Fight Card pounced, bearing her against the wall as she pressed against her, kissing her deeply even as she began to dissolve…

"Hm," Fei muttered later as she shakily got back to her feet, and trudged over to where the wind had blown her invisibility cloak. "I knew I forgot something…"

She didn't hear the scratching sounds from behind the locked door at the other end of the hall…

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A few days later, Sirius Black tried to break into Gryffindor Tower. Just thought you ought to know…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Dang, this was hard, I had to keep shifting view-points…

Kero knows a few spells, but he's no Hermione, as he tends to forget them. They don't work for him too, so that's a factor. The spell Harry mentions is _Stupefy_, even though he doesn't actually use it.

If Harry seems OOC running away, remember that no one has chased him with a sword before. Something like that tends to bring out deep-inner responses, like running for the hills. For a time, anyway…

_Flipendo_ is a non-canon spell found in the video games. I figured it would do…

Somehow, I see The Fight as taking a Chachamaru-esque position with regards to Fei. Guess that scene two chaps ago was them making their **Pactio**… –_grins_–

The Shadow Card did _not_ kiss him. That is all.

To **JuMiKu**: Thanks for the praise. Very much appreciated. My muse and I will not disappoint. At least, we'll try not to…

To **AzureSky123**: I really don't see what being able to write lemons has to do with asking a girl out, unless you're talking about later. It's more of a 'What do I say?' problem. Seriously, how many girls besides Hermione does Harry talk to for more than one paragraph in the first three books? See? He's inexperienced. In more ways then one…

To **LostGryffindorFoundSlytherin**: Heh! I have something _really_ nice planned for The Create Card, but unfortunately, it's still a long way off, so just a little patience…

To **Gangster-Potter**: updating…

To **Ran Hoshino**: dang, should have used _Riddikulus_, forgot they were boggarts. Hermione got her revenge at the beginning of this chap. And don't worry about Syaoran, I have something nice planned for him eventually. Call it a retirement package…

To **The-13th-To-Fall**: thank you.

To **damon blade**: hmm, that's a pretty nice image…

To **Dumbledork**: thank you.

To **XyBulmaXy**: watch it. It's great!

To **tdk99992000**: thanks for the review.

Things heat up (or should it be 'cool down'? –_snicker_–) next chap, as Fei and Harry have to handle a situation they really aren't ready for. Snape and the Slytherins are _really_ going to need to redecorate after this…

Please review, C&C welcome. S&M, not so much. MDK, not at all. Oh, and please stop asking me to update soon. It's hard to reply to that, and I _do_ update, don't I? It just takes a while. Real life is so troublesome…

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

Hermione pouts, looking in disgust as Shadow signs off.

Hermione: "This bites. Nine chapters, and we're basically extras! I want to renegotiate my contract!"

Ron: "We don't _have_ a contract. This is fan fiction, so it's not really official."

Hermione: "THIS SUCKS!"

Tomoyo: "What are _you_ complaining about? At least you get airtime. All I got was that omake orgy."

Touya: "Yeah! I'm not even going to appear at all!"

Ron : "How do _you_ know?"

Touya: "The writer doesn't like me. He thinks I'm too hard on Syaoran."

Tomoyo: "Lucky dog. At least _he_ got an appearance."

Shadow: "WILL YOU QUIT COMPLAINING! AT LEAST I'M TRYING TO WORK YOU IN!"

Signing off for real…


	10. Rain, Rain, Go Away

A/N: And now, a lethal combo that's sure to be a pain to try to deal with...

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 10, The Thunder: Rain, Rain, Go Away…

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry, don't own Sakura, not sure I own this fic.

Man, I'm losing my touch. My disclaimers used to be more creative…

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Harry was trying to decide whether his life sucked. Well, not exactly. It was kind of a given it sucked. What he was trying to decide was by _how much_ it sucked.

Bad enough that Sirius Black had somehow gotten into his school and tried to break into his dorm to try to kill him. Bad enough that the Gryffindors' suddenly had _Sir Cadogan_ guarding their door. Bad enough that he had to also deal with the Clow Cards as they came and keep their existence a secret from even his closet friends. Bad enough that he had competition in this territory, from a _Slytherin_, for crying out loud. Another Gryffindor, he wouldn't have minded. A Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, probably no competition. But a Slytherin was just asking for World War III.

He probably could take it, if those were all he had to deal with. They really weren't that bad. But what he _couldn't_ take was almost every teacher and **_Percy_** following him every chance they got, as if they were afraid that Sirius Black would appear out of thin air and kidnap him in the middle of a crowd, in broad daylight! I mean, come **ON**, that's just overkill!

In anyone else, the reason would have been that they were annoyed there were being treated like a child. Or that they were being followed everywhere and losing their privacy. Normally, he'd be annoyed because of all the attention. But in this extreme instance, he was annoyed because all those well-meaning teachers and Percy were keeping him away from a girl.

A specific girl.

Harry kept his mouth shut, even though he _longed_ to walk up to Fei and call her the by-product of Orochimaru, Manda, and a bottle of scotch. Or something to that effect. He was looking right at her, barely thirty feet away, and he couldn't say a word. _All _because Percy was insisting he was just 'happening' to walk in the same direction as Harry, at the same speed as Harry, within ten feet of Harry. Harry felt his teeth should have been ground down into stubs already, the way he'd been clenching them these past few days.

Many of the students in the hallway had disappointed looks on their faces. Ever since this storm of overprotective-ness, the betting rings had practically ground to a halt. The few times there weren't any teachers around, he and Lee had barely had time to send out their opening volleys before some academic appeared and ruined everything. He needed _release_, DARN IT! He just knew that if he had to go out like this to the Quidditch match, he'd be too worked up to even _think_ about looking for the Snitch.

He knew he needed this bad when he'd started recalling what it was like shouting at her, and the look in her eyes as she sent her zingers back at him (they weren't as intelligent as his, of course), and the way she'd look at him with loathing when she'd didn't have anything to top what he'd said, and the way her fingers curled as if she wanted to wring his neck, and…

Harry barely managed to hold back a gag reaction as he realized he was actively _fantasizing_ about Lee. _Lee_, of all people!

It was official. His life sucked a lot.

Harry wanted to cry.

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Fei glared at the pompous-looking Gryffindor standing mere feet away from Potter. She'd come to hate him with a passion, she did, one that should have been setting him on fire as bright on his hair. Potter, she loathed, she detested, she wanted gone so she could have a clear path to the Clow Cards. But this busy-body prefect…

**She wished he was dead!**

She tried to convince herself this was all for the best, that now she wouldn't be caught by Winter ripping Potter up one side and down the other, but that reassurance sounded hollow somehow. Could have something to do with the fact that worrying about Winter wasn't really a priority. They'd always managed to stop before she got within hearing range in the past.

Grinding her teeth, she adjusted the Hidden Sound _hitae-ate_ tied above her elbow and hidden by her robe, trying to imagine what the denizens of the youngest Hidden Village would do to the red-headed pain in the neck that kept her from the release she so very much needed. Somehow, none of the sound seemed to have the pain-causing techniques she was looking for. Well, except for their gay leader and his glasses-wearing closet-fruit flunky.

Muttering under her breath as Potter moved out of sight, she tried not to think about the times in the past they'd 'conversed'. About how he used to say the most multi-layered insults that managed to insult her however way it was taken, the challenging glint in his eye when her (more intelligent) responses found their mark and there was nothing he could say in reply, the way his teeth ground together when he…

Fei barely managed to keep from gagging as she realized she was fantasizing about _Potter!_

Fei wanted to cry.

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Winter Moon walked the halls, never looking up from the thick sheaf of paper in her hands as she instinctively balanced the bag on her shoulder while heading… somewhere. A part of her knew she wasn't headed for class, as she wasn't being carried off by a crowd of Ravenclaws. She just knew she was going _somewhere_.

Not that she really cared. She was too engrossed in the fic she was reading, where Sasuke accidentally fell into the _Nyannichuan_ during a mission and is now being chased by every guy in Konoha. It wasn't as great as the one where Sasuke is secretly a girl and a succubus, which, last she read, had Sasuke being chased by nearly every girl in Konoha so they could kill her for trying to 'seduce' them, but was still darn good.

She was just getting to the part where Ino accidentally finds out as she tries to force a kiss that ends with the two of them falling into a fountain when Winter felt a hand grab her shoulder. Instinctively, she looked down. Her foot was about to take a step out into empty air.

Groaning, she turned to her rescuer with a self-conscious smile on her face. "Uh, thanks, Lee."

The Slytherin girl shrugged slightly. "No problem."

Winter's keen senses detected something out of the ordinary, however. "Oh my gosh, is that a _hitae-ate _tied to yourright forearm under your robe," she gasped out, not noticing Fe's owlish blink.

"Uh, yeah," she said, and if Winter had been paying attention, she'd have noticed the '_how the heck did she notice **that**?_'tone.

"What village?" Winter asked, completely oblivious.

"Sound," Fei said.

Winter blinked. "_Sound?_"

Fei shrugged. "It seemed to fit my mood today."

Winter was immediately concerned. "Why? What's wrong?"

Fei looked away, and to Winter, it looked like she wanted to shuffle her feet. "It's… complicated. I really don't want to talk about it."

For a moment, Winter wanted to press on, but she really didn't know the Slytherin girl that well yet, so she decided not to pry. Still, she tried to help. "Oh, you poor baby. Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be alright."

Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, the silver-haired girl gave Fei a quick peck on the cheek, not noticing how she stiffened at the physical contact. Turning, Winter made her way down the stairs to the Great Hall, suddenly remembering she had been on her way down to eat…

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Fei stood at the top of the stairs, wide-eyed, completely red from head to toe, a shell-shocked look on her face. A stray gust of wind blew through the hallway, tipping her over as she fell in a dead faint. No one noticed.

Fei Lee could now die happy.

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Potions. Harry absolutely hated this class. Absolutely, positively **_hated_** it! Especially the guy who taught it! He would like nothing better than to take his new Sword Card and hack him into a thousand, thousand pieces. That, or hit him with the dreaded 'Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu no Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi'. Let's see how the slimy git deals with a Thousand Years of Death up his arse! Preferably by _kunai_ and exploding tag!

This and other happy thought flitted through Harry's head as he cautiously stirred his potion. The fumes wafting up from it were very hot, causing his hands to sweat, so he had to be very careful. For some reason, this particular potion reacted violently with water, so having your sweat drop into it was a no-no. Neville, Crabbe and Goyle already had the burns on their hands to prove it. Harry could here some people placing bets on which of their cauldrons blew up first.

"If you have been working with less than your usual level of incompetence," Snape sneered, and Harry deliberately kept his head down, knowing the git was looking straight at him, "then your potion should be a fiery red. Extra care is needed at this stage, as this is when the potion is at its most volatile. Even a single drop of water or sweat would cause an explosion equivalent to letting Longbottom play with a crate of fireworks."

Neville ducked down at this, blushing fiercely, and Harry fought to keep himself in check, even though a part of him _really_ wanted to bean Snape with his cauldron. Then maybe set him on fire. For starters. If only he had the Mangekyou Sharingan. A _Tsukiyomi_ would be just the thing…

Sighing, careful not to point his breath towards the cauldron- water _vapor_ in the breath would set it off- Harry reached for his rag to wipe his hands. Then stiffened as a feeling began to permeate the air. He risked a glance at Lee. The way she was scanning the area and had one hand in the pocket where he knew she kept the miniaturized form of her sword meant she had felt it too.

There was a Clow Card in the room. Harry tried to get a read on it as Snape started talking again. "Be careful as you bottle your potion. Its contents are highly acidic, and would start burning through your fingers in seconds if you were stupid enough not to use your tongs. If you _do_ get some on yourself, _do not_ try to wash it away with water. I have some cleansing solution ready in case-"

Whatever else he was about to say was drowned out as Harry felt the Clow Card's energy peak, and a drizzling sound was heard, followed immediately by sounds of barely-suppressed laughter. He looked at Snape, and barely kept himself from cracking up. The potions master was being _completely_ drenched by a small, intense rain cloud hovering directly over his head.

Not surprisingly, he was not amused.

He glared at the class, stepping to one side and out of the rain cloud's range. "Whoever did this, I promise is going to-"

Whatever threat he was going to make was cut short as the cloud moved so it was drizzling right back over his head, causing a slightly larger wave of laughter to erupt. Snarling, Snape to a step to the side. The cloud followed. It seemed to have gotten a bit bigger.

Harry tried to keep his laughter in check; especially since Snape was sending him those "I know you have something to do with this, I just can't _prove_ it, but when I do, you are a dead man" looks his way. Why Snape would look at him, when there was a class of students laughing louder or weaker than he was, Harry could only imagine.

Surprisingly, it was Lee who broke the mood. "Everyone, out of the room! That cloud is getting bigger, and if it hits the potions…!"

It took a moment to sink in. Harry distinctly heard what Snape had said: "Even a single drop of water or sweat would cause an explosion…"

Some people screamed as the class started running out of the room, ignoring Snape's shouts to get _back in **here!**_ He only stopped when he looked up and saw how big the cloud over his head was, and how close the nearest potion- fiery red perfect, of course- was. Deciding that maybe his students had the right idea for once, the normally unflappable man ran out of the room like the hoards of Hades was after him, as the first of the cauldrons exploded violently. Snape made a mental note never to teach that particular potion again as his classroom was blasted apart behind him.

When the sounds of explosions finally settled down, silence descended on the horribly blown apart classroom, interrupted only by the stead drizzle of rain from the ceiling.

Below, pools of water started to form, flowing out the door…

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Later that day, the rain in the Potions classroom still hasn't disappeared, and no one has been convicted. It wasn't of lack of trying on Snape's part. He personally tracked down and interrogated every student who was in his class, demanding to know if they had something to do with it. Harry was able to honestly say he had nothing to do with it, even when Snape looked him in the eye and a funny feeling developed in his head.

Which was _very_ true. He had absolutely nothing to do with it, even though he had a _very _good idea who, or _what_ did. He wasn't about to tell _anyone_ what he thought was the cause of it. The twins had made a huge ruckus about someone horning in on their territory, and wanting to know how someone had made it rain in the potions classroom, and why it hadn't happened during _their_ class with the git.

Meanwhile, the rain shower had moved past the potions room and into the rest of the dungeons, specifically, Slytherin House. By the time the Slytherins got to their dorms, there were four inches of water on the floor. It was a whirlwind as the students of the snake-House tried to get all their things out of the monsoon that had turned up in their common room. Things were made difficult by the fact that the hallway of the dungeon leading towards their door was _very _narrow, causing quite a pile up. When they emerged from their subterranean halls, they were all soaking wet and freezing. True to the saying 'no rest for the wicked' (and no one were more wicked than Slytherins), they only had time to shiver, dump their stuff in the middle of the Entrance Hall, and turn around to brave the water raining down on their heads to try and save more of their things.

By the time dinner came, about three fourths of the Hogwarts student population was in a _very_ good mood. The remaining quarter was grumpy, irritable, wet, freezing and wanted to strangle the rest. Harry was feeling particularly cheerful, enough to blunt his frustration at not having been able to get at a good 'conversation' with Lee lately.

Things got better when Dumbledore announced that the Slytherins would have to sleep in the Great Hall, since their dorm was currently under two feet of water. The Slytherins growled at everyone as the other Houses made their way towards their respective dorms, laughing cheerily all the way and occasionally saying things like "Why don't you snakes go swim with the fishes?". The Hufflepuffs didn't have to worry about their dorms getting wet, since theirs was a couple of floors higher than the dungeons, slightly above the kitchens, and if the condition of the food was any indicator, the kitchen was still high and dry.

It was a mostly happy school that went to bed that evening…

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"So, which Card is it?" Harry asked Kero later that night, as he got dressed for yet another after-hours stroll.

The little Guardian shrugged sleepily. Unlike Harry, he wasn't used to these nocturnal strolls, and had opted to sit this one out. That was fine by Harry. All he really needed was info and this Card so there wouldn't be any surprises.

"Rain Card," Kero said. "It causes a little cloud to appear and make it rain."

"Well, that explains why it's raining in the dungeons," Harry said cheerily.

Kero rolled his eyes. "Everybody's a comedian," he muttered, going back into his sleeping pouch.

"Everybody's a critic," Harry muttered back. Snickering, he wrapped his invisibility cloak around himself, activated The Jump Card, and jumped out his window. Landing easily on his feet, he did a couple of hops towards a window he knew was easy to open from the outside.

Deactivating The Jump Card, he crept inside, Sealing Wand at the ready. By now, the Sealing Wand felt as comfortable in his hands as his normal wand did, although the beak-like head was still a bit weird. Creeping cautiously, Harry was vaguely annoyed to see that the hallways weren't as crowded as they were a few days during the Fight Card and Sword Card incidents. It boded well for him- not much to worry about- but still, it was a bit vexing, to see this lack of security at night when a mass-murderer managed to get in a few days ago.

Okay, he'll admit it, it's annoying to see such a lack of security when someone who once managed to get in wanted to kill him!

Arriving at the Entrance Hall, he waited a moment, in case any of the Slytherin prefects (such a paradox!) were awake, he moved towards the stairs leading towards the dungeon. After a little climbing down, he stopped when the beam of his Sealing Wand (he'd used _Lumos_ a while ago) was reflected on the water that was sloshing around. Removing his invisibility cloak, he stashed it in his pocket and got into a raincoat he found in his trunk (not sure _where_ he got it, but it was awfully convenient). Wishing he had found a pair of galoshes (awfully _inconvenient_), he stepped into the cold water. Remembering the slimy things Snape had floating around in his office, he hoped the jars the git kept them in were secured.

The water was like ice, and Harry shivered as soon as the water made contact with his skin. He suddenly found himself sympathetic of the Slytherins who'd been going in and out of this to get their stuff out.

Promptly, he crushed that thought by imagining the whole lot of them in the Chamber of Secrets about to be eaten by the basilisk.

It wasn't long before it started to rain around him. It spattered on his over-sized raincoat, and the sound echoed in his ears. Wishing he asked Kero to come with him, he moved forward. The 'feel' of the Clow Card was everywhere, yet strangely weak, and Harry understood that what he was feeling was it's power spread out to cause this rain. The Clow Card itself was in a centralized location. Probing around deeper, he felt a higher concentration of it in the potions classroom where all this had started, along with two other 'signatures' one of which made him narrow his eyes and set his heart racing.

Moving as quickly as he could through the cold water, he quickly came to the door of his oh-so-favorite classroom, which was hanging off one hinge. He took a moment to take in what was happening inside.

Lee was blasting spell after spell at a giggling Clow Card sprite, which was riding on a rain cloud and moving all around the room. A wet but determined looking Fight Card was trying to lay her hands on her smaller sibling, but the water hampered her speed, and made it difficult to jump high enough quickly enough to catch the little blighter. Lee was also soaked to the skin, but the set of her jaw told Harry she'd rather get hypothermia than stop now.

The room itself was a mess. Cauldron fragments littered the surfaces that weren't underwater, and reminded Harry to have a new one ordered in from Diagon Alley in time for his classes next week. A lot of the tables were cracked, and one was even torn to bits, its wreckage half-submerged in the thigh-high water.

Harry took all this in as he pulled out The Windy Card from his pocket. Lighting his other wand, he tucked it behind his ear as a makeshift headlight as he entered the room, Card held in front of him. "WINDY CARD!"

Lee spun around as the yellow sprite materialized into view in front of Harry, in all her radiant glory. At his gesture, streamers of wind unfurled, heading towards the cloud the smaller sprite was riding around. These were harder to dodge than a single ground-based sprite, and soon, The Rain Card was secured.

Harry raised his Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor-" a rush went through him as he said those words "- and I order you to return to your true form! Rain Card!"

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Fei wanted to growl in frustration as The Rain Card dissolved, collapsing into Card form, before drifting towards Potter. On the upside, it caused the rain to stop, although Fei was so wet, she didn't really care. So what if it kept on raining?

The cold, however, was another matter. Muttering under her breath, she reached up and pulled her _hitae-ate_– Hidden Mist tonight– tighter around her forehead. Now that the water wasn't falling anymore, wind-chill was setting in with a vengeance.

"Bad day, Lee?" she heard Potter say as he tucked his newest 'acquisition' into his robe. There was a glint in his eye that was unconsciously mirrored in hers. Her lips peeled back in a snarl-like smile. Before she knew it, she was yelling at Potter, calling him anything that came to mind, and a couple of things she didn't know she knew. MAN, it felt GOOD!

He replied back in kind, his wand bobbing dangerously behind his ear, until Fight plucked it off and handed it to him. He accepted without breaking stride, somehow managing to thank the sprite without deviating from the name-calling.

It took a while for the two of them to shout themselves hoarse. For a moment, both panted, trying to get back their breath, as Fight waited patiently for the two of them. Fei _very_ much wanted this to continue all night. She had _no_ idea when she'd get this kind of again, and she wanted to make the most of it. Her voice was protesting, however, so scratch _that_ idea.

Still, it had been _very_ nice after the days-long celibacy, and Fei found herself imagining how things would be when the school's back to normal and she and Potter go at each other any time they wanted, without having to worry about some teacher or that Weasley pain-in-the-neck-she-wanted-to-Sennen-Goroshi-with-her-sword. Just almost-shouting at each other 'til they were hoarse, nearly-obsceneties flying like birds, figuratively at each other's throats as the rest of the world ceased to matter, and there was omy he two of them...

Fei shivered as she realized she'd been fantasizing about Potter _again_!

After a while of panting, Fei looked at her nemesis. There was a satisfied look in his eye, one that she managed to see, which threw her for a loop. He'd actually _enjoyed_ that! Like her, he'd enjoyed every minute of it. Fei repressed a shudder, as the thought occurred to her they might have more in common than they thought. Hateful…

Opening her mouth, although she wasn't exactly sure what she'd say, if anything, Fei paused as they became surrounded by magical energy. Both she and Potter looked around, feeling something all encompassing as something just out of sight seemed to _shift_, ever so slightly. Finally, after a few moments, the shifting feeling died down, although the magic that surrounded them remained.

The magic of the Clow Cards.

"What was that?" she heard Potter say, as he looked around in confusion.

Fight replied. "That was one of my siblings-" she began, before Fei interrupted.

"Fight, I **forbid**to give him any sort of information!" Fei said, and Fight shut up.

Potter gave her an annoyed look that seemed mixed with a measure of disgust. Shaking his head, he turned towards Fight. "By the way, I forgot to thank you for saving my neck a few nights ago," he said.

Fight inclined her head to one side, as if to say, "You're welcome."

Potter turned one last look in her direction, looking a bit regretful, before heading towards the doorway. "Well, be seeing you, Fight. Don't turn into a priss like your mistress."

With that, he was out the door.

Shaking with fury- or maybe it was cold- Fei slipped her sword into it's sheath on her back. Waiting 'til the count of ten, she gestured for Fight to follow her. She was sure Potter would be on his way to look for the Clow Card, and so would she, even if she had to scour the dungeon all night to find it!

She found Potter just outside the door, looking around in confusion.

"What's the matter, Potter?" she sneered. "You lost?"

Potter gave her a scathing look, but said, "So are you."

She raised an eyebrow, deigning not to dignify that with a response. An annoyingly knowing smirk appeared on Potter's face.

"Have you ever seen this intersection before?" he said, indicating the area they were in.

Looking around, it took her a while to realize what he meant. The potions classroom was located in a long, blank stretch of corridor with only a few torches to relieve the monotony. They currently found themselves at the crossroad of four hallways. In each direction they looked, each hallway turned, either to the left or the right.

Fei rounded on Fight. "What happened?"

"One of my siblings has settled nearby," Fight said, speaking so low that Fei could barely hear her.

"Speak up!" Fei said, but Fight shook her head.

"You ordered me not to provide the Card Captor with any sort of information, Mistress," Fight said. "If I spoke louder, he might hear."

Fei looked her in the eye and growled at the amusement she saw there. "Speak up. _That's_ an order, and I counter your previous order."

Fight nodded. "Yes, Mistress. Currently, it appears we are trapped by my sibling, The Maze Card."

"Maze Card?" Potter said.

"Shut up, Potter," Fei growled. Potter stuck his tongue out at her.

Fight nodded. "Maze can create an near-infinitely large, complicated maze that is virtually impossible to break through. The only was to defeat it's power is to exit the maze."

"So we just get out. What's the problem?" Potter said. Fei ignored him this time, focusing on something Fight had said.

"When you say 'near-infinitely large', what do you mean?" Fei said.

Fight tilted her head. "To provide an example, it can fit a maze with a surface area equivalent to the size of the upper castle in an area the size of the palm of my hand."

Fei's mouth set in a grim line. "So the maze we're in could be any size."

"Yes, Mistress."

"So big that we might never find the exit."

"Yes, Mistress."

For a moment, there was silence. Potter seemed speechless.

Fei turned to look at the four hallways that made up the intersection. There were no indicators of which one was which. "So the exit could be anywhere."

"Yes, Mistress."

Fei felt Potter said it best.

"Oh, **(BLEEP)!**"

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Harry was really having a bad day, wasn't he?

I like the thought of Snape being publicly humiliated. Git.

I'm thinking that the dungeons are below the kitchens and the Hufflepuff quarters. Helga Hufflepuff probably wouldn't have wanted her House on the same level as Slytherins, and I'm feeling sympathetic towards the House-Elves. The entrance first-years use to get from the lake doesn't go through the dungeons.

Yup, I skipped on Windy's kiss. Rest assured, she got it.

A little note: just because one is _capable _of something doesn't mean they'll do it…

To **AzureSky123**: keeping up!

To **Ran Hoshino**: Harry's a fan of the _jutsus_, so it doesn't matter whose they are.

To **dark672** : maybe…

To **nantukoprime**: check out the movies. The second one is the best! So romantic…–_sighs, then remembers he's still writing_– At least, that's what I've heard. I just like the Cards.

To **Dumbledork**: you're welcome!

To **Darklight**: this enough chaps for you?

To **LostGryffindorFound Slytherin **: thank you!

Next up, Fei, Harry and Fight have to make their way through The Maze Card's creation, and keep from killing each other at the same time! Will either of the humans keep from committing homicide? Find out, next!

Please review, C&C welcome. Flamers will be ignored completely, as they do not seem to understand the amount of effort that goes into even the crappiest of fics. Not everyone is Rowling, and even _she_ had detractors. The sixth book was not universally loved.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	11. Going In Circles

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 11, The Sword: Going In Circles…

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. I own a couple of pictures and books. Just like the rest of you…

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Fei Lee, a descendant of the great Clow Reed, wannabe jonin shinobi of whatever Hidden Village she felt like it at the moment– Hidden Mist tonight– member of Slytherin House, and currently freezing her rear off, was not having a nice day. First, she'd been release-deprived for days. Second, a Clow Card had barged in during her Potions class, blowing her cauldron to bits. Third, she'd lost _another_ Clow Card to Potter, the bloody Card Captor. Now, she was currently thigh-deep in freezing water of questionable purity while trapped with the last person she'd want to be with, and a glow-in-the-dark sprite wearing an Umi Ryuzaki knock-off outfit.

She was _really_ hoping things didn't get worse.

And promptly berated herself. That was just asking for trouble!

She wasn't sure _how_ it happened, but she, Potter, and Fight were currently making their way down one of the corridors of the intersection they'd found themselves in. Wading through thigh-high water wasn't fun, especially when your clothes were soaking wet. Add in the fact that it was the middle of the night, and Fei felt more like homicide than search and rescue.

She tried to keep from shivering as she walked, but it was a losing battle. Her clothes were _completely_ soaked through, not to mention sticking to her skin, and the water swirling around her legs wasn't helping. Not for the first time, she cursed the fact that the Clow Cards had to turn up in bloody England. Why couldn't it have turned up somewhere else, like, say, the Caribbean? Or even that little place in Japan her cousin had been sent a few years ago. Anywhere _but_ the country where you get spring, summer, fall and winter in the same frickin day!

She tried not to nod off as they turned yet another corner into yet another torch-lit corridor. It had been a long night even _before_ this little escapade started. Fei was running on practically empty. Distantly, she felt her eyes closing as she continued to walk. She'd just rest them for a few moments. Yeah, that's it, just rest them a while. After all, you didn't need your eyes to walk. Winter didn't…

Fei was abruptly sent back to the Waking World as _something _struck her square on the face. Reflexively, she caught, glaring at Potter, who was looking at her in annoyance through droopy eyes. "Stay awake, Lee! I don't have time to carry you around. And put that on! You're freezing your arms off!"

Fei's glare of annoyance turned into a blink as Potter turned around, and looked at what she'd caught. It was Potter's raincoat. For a moment, she debated whether to just drop it into the water, but another shiver quickly killed that idea. Trying not to think of who it belonged to, she put the oversized covering on. It's size allowed her to wrap it twice around herself, letting her trap in her body heat. It wasn't much, but it helped.

It crossed her mind to check the raincoat for jinxes and curses, but decided that if there were any, at least they would make her mad enough to wake her up and maybe raise her body temperature.

She stared at a torch they passed, eyes glazed over, and was just turning away when something finally clicked.

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Harry knew the minute Lee stopped walking. He let out an annoyed sigh, and was about to turn around when Lee said, "Don't turn around, Potter!"

Predictably, he ignored it, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Fight was standing next to Lee with an amused look in her eye. In her hands she held the raincoat Harry had thrown at Lee, plus a wet robe and a wet vest. Lee was looking at Harry coolly, halfway through taking off her shirt.

Which, wet as it was, was sticking to her like a second skin and leaving nothing to the imagination.

Harry stood staring for about two seconds before he 'eep'-ed, turning around and rubbing his eyes. "AHHH! MY EYES! THEY'RE TAINTED!"

Try as he might, Harry could _not_ get the image of a half-naked Lee wearing a sports-bra and a wet shirt that clung _very_ tightly to her lithe frame out of his head.

_**ARGGGHHH!**_

Behind him, he could here Lee laughing slightly, a low, throaty laugh that sent a shiver up his spine. He tried not to connect the sounds he heard as being related to her stripping her shirt off, but sadly, he wasn't that good. "WHAT THE _HECK_ ARE YOU DOING, AND **_WHY NOW?_**"

He heard water dripping on to the floor. "I'm drying out my clothes! What does it look like I'm doing, you idiot? Should have thought of it sooner, but the cold and your stupidity both went to my head!"

Harry heard a torch being removed from the wall, and realized what she was up to. "Be careful not to burn your clothes," he said, trying to sound mocking. "It'd be a shame if you had to walk around in nothing but your underwear."

He heard a sniff. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, you pervert?"

"Hey, you're the one who just stripped!"

Harry heard Lee about to send out a response, but Fight said, "Mistress, be careful. If you drop your clothes into the water, we might not be able to find them again, or do anything about them if we did."

"Be quiet!" he heard Lee snap, and annoyance flashed through Harry, annoyance and something else.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that! She's just trying to watch out for you!"

"Shut up, Potter! I'll deal with Fight _my_ way! Keep your nose out of it!"

"It's alright, Lord Potter," he heard Fight say. "My Mistress is right to be angry with me if I displease her."

"Did you just call him LORD?"

"He _is_ the Card Captor, Mistress, and deserves respect, even though he did not manage to pass my test."

"I FORBID you from ever calling him that again!"

"Mistress, be careful! Your clothes!"

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Later, a slightly dryer Lee, still wearing the raincoat, a slightly amused Fight, and Harry were once more walking down the corridor. Fight held the appropriated torch in her hands, and was holding it close to Lee to keep her warm.

"Do you have _any_ idea where you're going, Potter?" Lee said.

"Yes," Harry said. "This way!"

"And how do you know that this leads out of here?"

"And which way would you have us go, hmmm?"

"You're just getting us completely lost!"

"Hey, you've got a better idea?"

…

"Didn't think so!"

Fight giggled, and Harry glanced over his shoulder. Yup, Fight had _definitely_ giggled.

"What's so funny, Fight?" Lee growled.

"It's nice to hear the two of you talking like this again," Fight said. "I've really missed it over the past few days."

Harry blinked, and he saw Lee do the same. "You've heard us fight?"

Fight nodded. "Of course! Mistress always carried me around with her, and until a few days ago, I always enjoyed listening to the two of you. I'm sure my siblings have enjoyed listening as well, Lord Potter."

Lee growled. "I thought I told you not to call him that!"

Fight inclined her head towards Lee. "Your pardon, Mistress. Still, it was nice to listen to you two. Why did you stop?"

Harry grunted as the reason why recalled itself to his mind. "Busy-bodies kept hanging around," he growled, as if crushing the words between his teeth.

"Damned Weasley prat," he heard Lee mutter. Unconsciously, he found himself agreeing with her description of Percy.

"I… see," Fight said, clearly unsure of what to make of their answers. "Well, it's nice the two of you are talking again. The two of you are really enjoying yourselves."

Harry and Lee nodded at that, then froze as they realized what they were nodding to, and who they were nodding with.

"**Hey!**" they chorused. "**I don't enjoy talking to that (double censor)!**"

The two glared at each other.

"**Stop mimicking me! No, you stop! No, _you_ stop! No, you! No, _you!_ You! _Yo-_**"

"Um, jinx?" Fight said. The two turned to look at her, and she smiled weakly. "Just something I heard the Lady Winter say."

"It's Moon," Lee corrected grumpily. Then frowned. "Why do you call her 'Lady'?"

"You obviously hold her in high regard, Mistress, and I did not wish to disrespect her person," Fight said.

"I get _that_," Lee said. "But why do you call Potter here-" her face twisted in disgust "-'Lord'?"

"He is Master Keroberos' chosen Card Captor, Mistress, and thus worthy of respect. Further more, even though he did not pass my test, he was obviously able to best many of my siblings. Earthy and Windy in particular are very powerful, and Time is not easily defeated."

Harry blinked. "You know which ones I have?"

Fight nodded. Lee's eyebrow twitched.

"And you didn't tell me this _before_ because…?" she said.

"You did not ask, Mistress. You only asked me to train you."

"How many?" Lee demanded.

"Counting Rain, fourteen, Mistress."

Lee looked at Harry in disbelief. Harry grinned, drawing his Clow Cards from his pocket and fanning them in front of him. "Read 'em and weep, Lee."

Lee glared at them for a moment, before turning and walking the way they were going. "Come on, Fight! We don't have all night!"

"Um, Mistress, didn't you express doubts as to whether this path would lead to the exit?" Fight said.

Lee stopped and glared at Fight. Harry snickered.

"Not much of a Mist Nin, are you?" he said.

"Shut up, Potter!"

"Ooh, witty comeback! Got any more?"

"Grrrr!"

----------------------------------------

"Um, Mistress, I think we've been here before," Fight ventured about ten minutes later.

Fei looked at her. "That's impossible! We've been walking in a straight line!"

"Got a Ryouga Hibiki-complex, have you, Lee?" Potter said, smirking at her. "Getting lost in corridors now?"

"Stuff it, Potter," Fei growled, not in the mood. "There's no _way_ we could be back where we started! We didn't take any turns, and we've been walking straight!"

"But I'm sure this is the bracket where we got our torch, Mistress." Fight said, pointing to an empty bracket.

"No, it isn't!" Fei said, forging ahead at a faster pace, or at least, as fast as the water would let her. "We keep moving!"

Much later, however…

"That's the fifth time in a row we've passed an empty bracket!" Potter said. "That can't be a coincidence!"

Fei pursed her lips. She'd finally have to admit that maybe Potter and Fight had a point. The bracket had the crack she'd had Fight make on the last one they'd passed when her suspicions had started getting the better of her pride. Something was seriously wrong here.

"I think I remember reading about a Clow Card that had this kind of effect," Fei mused, rubbing her chin. "Fight?"

"Loop is capable of producing this effect, Mistress," Fight confirmed.

"Who?" Potter said.

Fei sneered. "What's wrong, Potter? Don't you know your Clow Cards?"

Potter glared at her.

"The Loop Card can cause a place to close in on itself, changing it into a cylindrical three dimensional closed space," Fei lectured, enjoying the fact that she had the one-up on her rival.

"Like the 'Art of the Never-Ending Place'?" Potter said suddenly.

Fei gave him a look. "Yeah, kind of like that."

Potter looked the way they were going, than the other way. "We're in trouble."

"'We, Gryffindor?" Fei said. "_I_ know how to get out of this."

"Actually, Mistress, you will need his help," Fight said. "He must Seal Loop. There is no other way to escape."

Fie glared at her.

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Harry growled as he walked down the corridor alone. He was supposed to be checking the walls for some kind of discontinuity. Since the walls were composed of cut stones whose pattern didn't repeat, the place where things started to 'loop' would be inconsistent. At least that's what bloody LEE said! She'd also said- and Fight agreed with this- that because of the background magic The Maze Card was putting out, they wouldn't be able to just 'sense' The Loop Card's presence.

They'd gone in opposite directions to search, so that they'd be able to cover more ground. Harry wasn't _quite_ sure _how_ he'd ended up agreeing to this, but he had.

Sighing, he wished Kero were here, if only to keep him company. At least Lee had Fight. He was all alone…

Abruptly, Harry slapped his forehead. No, he wasn't! He had his Clow Cards with him! All it would take to have company was a wave of his magic wand…

Without really thinking about it, Harry pulled out a Card and activated it.

A burst of light later, and The Light Card was standing in the hallway with him, her soft glow lighting up the area around them.

"You called, Master?" she said, seemingly unruffled by all the water.

Now what?

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Fei kept grumbling as Fight followed behind her. A part of her mind that sounded like her cousin told her that if she didn't calm down, she'd miss the spot she was looking for, but she ignored it. She was too distracted being cold, wet and sleepy.

"Mistress?" Fight said, looking at her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Fei said sharply. "I'm just cold, that's all."

Without warning, Fight hugged her from behind, and Fei stiffened as the Clow Card's hands enfolded her, holding their bodies close together. She was warm, Fei realized, compared to _her_ anyway. "Fight, what are you doing?"

"Trying to warm you up, Mistress," Fight breathed into her ear, and Fei shivered. "That helps, but _exchanging_ body heat is better."

"Fight-" Fei started to say, then gasped as she felt the sprite's cheek rubbing against hers. Shakily she tried again. "Fight, what the (BLEEP) do you think you're doing?"

"Serving my Mistress," Fight said, putting a slight twist on the final word. Another shiver wracked Fei's body upon hearing that.

She opened her mouth one last time, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted when Fight tilted her head to the side and back and kissed her.

Her brain promptly crashed, rebooted, then crashed again in rapid succession. By the time she was able to get it back up in 'safe mode', Fight had turned her around and was leaning against the wall, while gently running her hands over her Mistress' back. The hands migrated, down her arms and over her neck, then back again, repeating the process over and over.

Fei started shivering like crazy, but it wasn't from the cold. Nope, definitely not cold.

Fight broke the kiss, and Fei struggled to get air back into her lungs, even as Fight's hot breath blew over her face, as the sprite began to leave butterfly kisses over her face, from her forehead, down her cheeks, across her chin and neck, and up the other side. "Fight…" she tried, and failed to say.

"Shh, Mistress," Fight said, as her fingers caressed Fei's face and her mouth nuzzled her neck.

One last sigh from Fei before Fight went back to her mouth, and she knew she wasn't going anywhere soon. That was her last thought as her brain crashed, again…

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A little later, a warmer, slightly wetter, slightly sleepier Fei, followed by a serene Fight, carefully checked the patterns of the stone walls, looking for a discontinuity in the pattern of rocks.

Pausing, Fei focused on a specific part in front of her, narrowing her eyes. After a few minutes, after she realized she was about to fall asleep, she sighed and decided 'what the heck'. Pulling out her sword, she was just about to slash the line she saw when Fight said, "Pardon, Mistress, but your sword won't be enough to cut Loop. We will need Lord Potter and Sword to do so."

She tried to glare at the sprite, but decided she was too tired. "Heh, fine. You call him."

Fight nodded, and raised her voice. "LORD POTTER, WE HAVE FOUND THE DISCONTINUITY!"

They waited, and Fei made sure to keep her sword between her and the sprite, just in case she tried anything. The Fight Card only smiled serenely, causing Fei to blush.

After a while, a slightly flushed Potter approached from the direction they were going. "What?" he said, and Fei raised an eyebrow. He sounded… snappish.

Fei pointed. "There it is. Care to cut and Seal it?"

Glaring at her, Potter, pulled out a Card from his robes. "SWORD CARD!" he yelled, and his Sealing Wand transformed into a sword, the same sword that had possessed Fei only a few nights ago. With one slash, Potter cut the Loop, and the view around them shimmered slightly. Thankfully, or perhaps not, they were all standing at the same side of The Loop, so neither of them suddenly disappeared.

Potter deactivated The Sword Card and raised his Sealing Wand. "LOOP CARD!"

A light show that made Fei want to close her eyes and fall asleep later, a Card drifted down from the end of Potter's Wand and knocked against Fei's head, only to be caught by Fight. That jarred her awake.

"Oh, right," Fei said, taking the Card. Since she had been the one to get the idea of how to find the Loop, she was the one- technically- who defeated it. That meant it was hers.

"Congratulations," Potter said sarcastically, and she smiled as she realized she'd gotten under his skin. "But don't celebrate yet. We're still trapped in here remember?"

She smiled. She'd been considering that very problem, and she finally remembered a little something about how to deal with this situation. "Relax, Potter," she said, as she slipped The Loop Card into her robes. "I know how to get out of here…"

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Cheap and short, I know, but _MAN_, it's been a while since I did that!

Somehow, I'm seeing Fight as Fei's sidekick. The Chachamaru to her Evangeline. I don't know why…

The 'Art of the Never-Ending Place' comes from volume five of **_Negima_**.

Please review, C&C welcome…uh, I can't seem to think of anything snappy to say about flames…

By the way, what does 'tsubasa' mean?

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	12. Low Quality Time

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 12, The Flower: Low-Quality Time…

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well, covet her money, and hope she 'updates soon'. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills and wish **_Tsubasa_** would start airing where I am. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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The method was simple really, and came not from some ancient manuscript, but more contemporary media.

The trick to getting out of a maze was simple. It was long, boring and tedious, but simple. One merely kept going in a certain direction, and if one had to make a turn, turn only right (or left, as long as it was only in one direction). One must only turn right (or left) whenever one has to make a turn. If one comes to a dead end, just turn around and turn right (or left) again. Eventually, one would have traversed the whole maze, only backtracking when one comes to a dead end. Using this method, one has to find the exit _eventually_…

It took them most of the night, and by the end of it, Fight was carrying Lee on her back while Harry could barely put one foot in front of the other in the freezing cold water. Eventually, however, they came to a hallway that wasn't of The Maze Card. At the end of said hallway, Harry was happy to see, were stairs leading upwards.

Behind him, he could feel the magic shifting. Turning, he saw the walls behind him shimmering, before collapsing into an asymmetrical, pinkly-glowing, shifting magical mass.

"Now would be the time to Seal it, Lord Potter," Fight said. On her back, Lee stirred slightly, mumbling something that sounded like 'don't call him Lord', but could have been 'get off the board'. Blearily, the Slytherin girl opened one eye.

Harry nodded tiredly, than yawned. A distant part of him wondered if it was safe to do this while practically dead on his feet. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form! MAZE CARD!"

Apparently, it was, as the pink mass in front of him shuddered, then dissolved into several streaks that drifted towards the end of his Sealing Wand, forming a Card.

Annoyingly, the Card drifted towards Lee, avoiding Harry's hand as it headed towards the semi-conscious girl.

Lee made a sleepy grab at it, and missed. Fight caught the Card for her.

"Heh," Lee said as she held the Card, "looks like it's not your night, Potter."

Harry was too tired to think of a smart comeback. "(BLEEP) off Lee!" he slummed, heading up the stairs and leaving wet footprints behind. He just wanted to get back to bed and go to sleep.

Sleepily, he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower…

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Fei felt Fight laying her down on the floor, and blearily opened her eyes again. When had she closed them? She supposed they were above the dungeons now, probably close to the kitchens.

"Mistress," she heard Fight say, "Wake up."

Fei wanted _so_ much to ignore her, she really did, but she struggled to wake up- when had she fallen almost asleep again?- even though she desperately wanted to just go to sleep.

She heard Fight sigh, and felt herself being propped up. Fight knelt behind her, cradling her head on her shoulder, as she wrapped her arms around her. "Please wake up. Mistress. Mistress?" Another sigh. "I guess I have no choice."

Fei felt one of Fei's hands drifting down her leg, and settling on her knee. Slowly, it started to caress her, moving inward, and up her inner thigh…

With a shake, Fei struggled to stand, moving away from Fight as she did so, who helpfully let her go. Fight wore a satisfied look on her face.

When Fei was standing under her own power, Fight rose, bowing. "By your leave, Mistress?"

Nearly asleep she may be, but Fei had enough working brain cells to remember what happened the _last_ time Fight had said that. She gave a tired sigh. "Fine! Let's get this over with."

Fight grinned and she leaned forward and engulfed Fei's lips in her own. Fei didn't resist, too tired to bother, although a spectacular full-body blush erupted. Fight's kiss seemed different somehow, softer, gentler, but still as 'enthusiastic' as before. When Fight finally drew back, Fei was a bit surprised to see she wasn't dissolving into nothingness yet.

"Get some rest and take care of yourself, Mistress," Fight said as she finally started to dissolve. "I love you…"

Fei's brain locked at those words, and she almost fell asleep again before she remembered where she was. Shaking her head as she reached down to pick up Fight's Card-form, she started to make her way towards the Great Hall, hoping she'd be able to sneak in and get a couple of hours sleep…

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She wasn't that lucky.

Fei and Potter tried not to fall asleep as McGonagall berated them about being out of bounds all night. They both missed the good points of her discussion that way, but thankfully, it didn't seem like she thought the two of them had _both_ been in the dungeons. Wouldn't _that_ be hard to explain!

Finally, after hearing when they'd do their detention- tomorrow morning, Sunday- they were allowed to leave.

Potter was lucky, Fei thought as she watched the Card Captor walking dead on his feet towards his House. At least he'd get to sleep in his bed. _Her_ bed was probably soaked, if not submerged. She was glad she'd been paranoid enough to buy a waterproof trunk.

Dead on her feet herself, she headed for the hospital wing to sleep, since the Great Hall was going to be filled up with breakfast goers in a few minutes.

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Harry was thankful that Ron and Hermione were still asleep when he got back to Gryffindor Tower. He thanked his lucky stars that he remembered Cadogan's stupid password. In his condition, he couldn't be sure of his own name.

Putting the Clow Cards back in the book, he slipped under the covers of his four-poster, and let oblivion take him. His dreams were full of mazes and cold, and beautiful women in white coming to take him away…

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Harry and Fei both slept the day away, waking up in time for dinner. Although none of the Slytherins were particularly curious what Fei had done to receive detention, Ron and Hermione weren't as apathetic. He managed to throw them off with some fabrication that they bought, but that only left him feeling like crud. There was something bitter about having to lie to your best friends, but having someone you disliked know the truth.

Come Sunday, Harry and Fei were back in the submerged dungeon. Because the rain had stopped, the dungeon was being readied for human habitation again. Their detention, ironically, was to draw the water, by bucket, lug it up to the kitchen and dump the water down the drain. By hand. Without magic.

Harry was vaguely thankful for all those sadistic chores the Dursleys had put him through, as he was prepared for what this detention would require. Lee didn't look so bad either. She was carrying as much water as he was, so that they were practically in step as the lugged the water buckets to the kitchen, dumped them down the drain, and turned around to do it again. He supposed her pride wouldn't let him beat her, even at this.

For a long while, they worked in silence, the only sounds the water sloshing in their buckets and going down the drain.

Finally, Harry took a deep breath and said, barely audibly, "Thanks."

Lee looked at him, and for once it wasn't her usual glare. It was more of a 'what the heck is this guy talking about?' glare than an 'I hate your guts!' glare. "What?"

"For getting us out of The Maze Card," Harry said, not looking at her. "I never would have gotten out on my own. I was lucky you were there."

Lee sniffed. "Whatever. I was just looking after my own interests, leading us out of that maze. Without you, I wouldn't be able to Seal the Card."

Harry glared at her, but his heart wasn't really in it. Silence descended once more as they drained a couple more bucket loads. A few down, a couple of thousand to go.

"Thanks," Lee said suddenly, and now it was Harry's turn to look at her questioningly. "For freeing me from the Sword Card. As much as I dislike you, I don't want you dead. Yet. I still need all the Cards Sealed."

"You're welcome," Harry said dryly. "So I guess we're even?"

"I guess so," Lee replied in the same tone.

"Good," Harry said.

"Good," Lee agreed.

Another silence. More buckets drained.

"Can I ask you something?" Lee said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. That was almost… civil. "Go ahead."

"Why'd you get mad about Fight? She's _my_ Card and I'll treat her the way I want to!"

"That doesn't make her your _slave_, you little (bleep)! She's a person too!"

"She's a Clow Card!"

"She has feelings! And if you're so convinced Fight's just a Card, why do you call her 'she' instead of 'it'?"

"Damn you, Potter!"

"Hey, you're the one who started talking to me!"

And they bickered.

----------------------------------------

Hours later, they were still at it.

"…you just got lucky with those Cards!" Potter said.

"Did not!" Fei protested.

"Did too! If I hadn't been there, you'd never have gotten them in the first place! You'd still be trapped by The Loop, getting your face beat in by Fight, and you'd only be able to get out of Maze. You need ME to Seal, remember!"

"Damn you Potter!"

More bickering.

----------------------------------------

Later…

"Hey, if I hadn't distracted The Thunder Card, you'd have been toast!"

"Well, if I hadn't Sealed Fight, you'd just be a smear on the wall!"

"You'd still be trapped down here if it weren't for me!"

"_You're_ the one who can't do anything without me!"

"Hey, who got who out of the maze?"

"Oh, you _know_ you need me!"

"Hah! _You're _the one who needs me!"

"Who Seals the Cards?"

"Who tells who how to get out of jams?"

"Kero helps me!"

"And where the heck was he?"

Silence descended as they glared at each other while they dumped the water down the drain. The House Elves had long ago decided to work in a different part of the kitchen.

Finally, Harry sighed. "Truce?"

"What?" Lee said, obviously thrown for a loop.

"We obviously need each other, or at least, you need _me_. But neither of us will ever be able to stop the Cards properly if the two of us keep competing like this. What if we'd kept on arguing with each other when a Card like Thunder suddenly appeared and people got hurt? Would you be able to live with that?" Harry challenged.

Lee glared at him. "Just because I'm a Slytherin doesn't mean I'm heartless! But why bother? No one's been hurt."

"How about those students Fight beat up?" Harry said, and Lee winced. "At least if we work together, we'll be able to deal with Cards faster, and maybe minimize the damage they cause."

"You want to work together?" Lee said, sounding astounded.

"You're the second to last person in this school I'd want to work with, but you're the only one who knows about the Clow Cards, and because you seem like you want them kept secret, I guess that means in some bizarre way I can trust you, so _yes_, as much as I don't want to, I think we should work together," Harry said through gritted teeth.

Lee looked thoughtful, or as thoughtful as someone could be while glaring at you.

Finally, she said. "What are the terms?"

Harry didn't know whether to be glad or not.

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Finally, after reducing the water in the dungeon to nearly half, Filch said they could go, although he didn't sound happy about it. Dripping from the thighs down, the two made their way out of the lower levels, grabbing a bite to eat from the kitchens since they were too tired to deal with the supper crowd in the Great Hall.

The moment they came up the stairs, the first person they met was Winter.

"Hey," she said. "I heard you two got detention together. What happened."

"Caught out of bounds," the two chorused, them looked at each other.

"Jinx!" Winter said, and the two sighed as she giggled. "What were the two of you doing out of bounds? Don't tell me" Winter's voice changed tone "that the two of you were having a secret rendezvous!"

"NO!" the two protested.

Winter giggled again. "Jinx!"

The two looked at each other, and Harry made a hand gesture, an 'after you' wave. Lee sighed. When she was done, Harry sighed.

Winter sniffed. "No fair! You're cooperating!"

"We'd rather not rack up more jinxes, Moon," Lee said dryly.

"Well, you haven't paid me yet for the other ones," Winter conceded. "So, wanna go with me to dinner?"

Harry wanted nothing but. Sadly, his body wouldn't let him. "Uh, not right now, Winter. I am _so_ tired from detention. Maybe some other time?"

"Alright," Winter said easily. "Lee?"

Lee shook her head. "Can't. I'm tired too."

"Aw" Winter pouted, looking put off. But the next second, she was her usual cheerful self again. "Oh well, wouldn't do run you two ragged."

Shrugging, she gave them both a kiss on the cheek and headed towards the Great Hall, humming to herself.

Harry stood frozen, before his face split into a wide grin. Humming to himself, he practically skipped to Gryffindor Tower.

He didn't notice Lee had gone completely red behind him, nor that her face also split into the same wide grin.

Humming to herself, Fei went to the library to read.

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: And Fei now has Fight, Loop, and Maze, or as I like to think of it, one _taijutsu_ and two _genjutsu_.

Like I said before, there are many different kinds of love…

Please review, C&C welcome. Flames will be used to make toast.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

….

….

….

Raven Harry glares at Shadow

Raven Harry: "Okay, you've worked on this one, now get back to my fic."

Uzumaki Harry: "NO WAY! He's working on me and my brothers!"

Dark Keeper Harry: "Oh NO! He's working on me!"

Card Captor Harry: "KEEP AWAY FROM HIM, YOU VULTURES! HE'S MINE!"

Shadow sweatdrops as the four start fighting. Someone taps on his shoulder.

Sakura/Kurt: "What about us? We don't want to be like this forever just because you can't get back to our fic!"

Shadow: "Which of you is talking?"

Sakura/Kurt: "Does it matter?"

Shadow: "Guess not…"


	13. A Day In The Life Of Fei

A/N: I can't believe I felt the last three chapters were ready to see the light of day. They were so _SHORT!_ I guess hindsight _is_ twenty-twenty. Pity I didn't like what I saw…

No rewrites, though. I really can't think of anything that would make them longer…

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 13, The Shield: A Day In The Life Of Fei

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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_Hi. I'm Lee Fei, or Fei Lee, whatever. _

_I'm thirteen years old, in Slytherin House, and on my first year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm in third year._

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Fei's eyes snapped open even before the windup alarm clock next to her went off. Her hand reached out immediately and turned off the alarm even before it started ringing.

Yawning, she got up, stretching her arms as she got ready to greet a new day. Wiping her eyes of sleep gunk, she grabbed the towel she put out last night, along with her shampoo and soap, and headed for the showers…

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_I'm one of the smartest girls in my class, right up there with that Granger girl. I **know** I'm the smartest girl in my House. Heck, considering the bunch of inbred, incestuous idiots I got saddled with, that's not very hard._

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Fei waited patiently for the hot water to start flowing before she went into the stream. Pouring some shampoo in her hand, she started to lather up…

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_My likes? Well, I like math. And Arithmancy. And anime. Especially** Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle** (even though my cousin doesn't like it much because the male lead creeps him out, since they look so much alike), **Groove Adventure Rave, Van Dread, GateKeepers**, and of course, **NARUTO**!_

_Naruto and Hinata make a cute couple, don't you think?_

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Fei put on her robe, then reached under her bed for her specially locked box. Waving her wand in a specific way, saying the unlocking word, tracing the exact spots on the three locking _ofuda_ and tapping the box itself in the right spots, she opened it without being hit by some of the most dangerous combinations of spells she and her cousin could think of.

Debating her choices, she extracted a Yukigakure _hitae-ate_– a late addition to her collection her cousin had sent her yesterday– and tied it around her neck like Hinata and Temari did. She got the matching gloves as well. After a little more thought, she also took a Mangekyou Sharingan pendant and a Revolutionary Girl Utena ring. All were safely concealed underneath her clothes.

Nodding in satisfaction, she checked to make sure her three Clow Cards and her sword- compacted, of course- were on her person before she picked up her bag and headed for the Great Hall.

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_What? I **like** the accessories! Don't tell me you've never passed by a window, saw something from an anime you liked, and didn't want to buy it!_

Hah, thought so! 

_I like manga, too. Ken Akamatsu stuff, **W.I.T.C.H.**, Rumiko Takahashi, **Ragnarok**, American comics like**The Sandman**, others. I have a mint condition **Death: At Death's Door**!_

_I also dig fanfiction. There's this writer with the penname **Raijinkage the Writer-sama** who I really like. I hope to meet him someday and maybe get his autograph and just wax poetic on how COOL he is…_

_WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?_

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Fei ignored the other Slytherins at the common room, at the halls and everywhere as she made her way upstairs for breakfast. The walls still showed signs for water damage from The Rain Card thing. They'd _really_ had to redecorate after _that_ fracas.

Face impassive, she looked around the crowd already in the Entrance Hall, looking for a silver flash…

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Other things that I like? Well… 

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Fei tried hard to repress her grin when she caught sight of who she was looking for. Her target seemed to sense her presence, turning around and waving at her when she saw her.

"Hey, Lee!" the silver-haired girl said as she made her way towards the wine-eyed girl.

Fei nodded coolly, letting a small smile grace her mouth. "Moon…"

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–dreamy sigh– _Her. Winter Moon._

_I'm not gay. I'll say that right off the bat. Oh, no you don't! I saw you roll your eyes! Come back here so I can gouge them out!_

_Oh, you apologize, eh? Well, just this once, I'll let it pass._

_But it's true, I'm not gay. I think Sasuke is hot as much as the next girl. So why am I, if you'll pardon the pun, mooning over this girl? I have no idea. All I know is, every time I see her, I feel drawn to her. Every time I think of her, I get a weird feeling inside. And every time she touches me, I can't help feeling warm…_

_Okay, that's it, I'M GOUGING YOUR EYES OUT!_

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"Are you alright?" Winter asked. "You were pretty tired last night."

Fei waved off her concern. "Nothing a little sleep can't fix, Moon."

"Oh my gosh, is the a Yukigakure _hitae-ate_?" Winter gushed. "And a Sharingan pendant? And an Ohtori ring?"

"Mangekyou Sharingan," Fei corrected.

"Wow!" Winter said. "Say, have you seen Harry?"

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Things I dislike, well… 

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"Not yet," Fei said coolly as the two of them began to walk towards the Great Hall. "I'll let you know if I do."

"Okay," Winter said.

Fei deliberately ignored the boy at the top of the stairs, even though she could feel his gaze on the two of them.

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_Harry Potter. Definitely Harry Potter. The frickin' Card Captor._

_Even though I got a truce with him, I don't like the guy. I don't have to. We just have to work together to keep the Clow Cards from being discovered and possibly destroyed. The Ministry of Magic is not known for being open minded. _

_I don't want to have anything happen to Fight, or my other Cards. _

_Other things I dislike? Well, there's Draco Malfoy…_

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"Well, gotta go, Lee," Winter said, giving the other girl a quick peck on the cheek. "Bye."

Fei managed to keep from freezing, even as she went completely red. Idly, she wondered where her body found all the blood to do that.

"Oy, LEE!" a voice said, and her blush and good mood immediately vanished.

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Speak of the devil… 

_I dislike Potter. He's an obstacle, an opponent, and a rival. Nevertheless, he's someone I could respect. Maybe._

_But I absolutely **HATE, DETEST AND LOATH DRACO MALFOY!**_

_It's not so hard to understand. The idiot thinks he's a gift to women, all women, and that we'd fall over dead for the chance to talk to him. I wished he'd fall over dead! _

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Fei tried not to give in to the temptation of pulling out her sword and stabbing Malfoy to death with it. Or cutting him to pieces. Or ripping him open and take out his organs one by one. Or using him as a punching bag to practice the moves she'd learned from Fight to pummel him within an inch of his life.

Malfoy wasn't making it easier, however, seeming to think she was hanging on to his every word as she left the Great Hall for her Arithmancy class. She prayed that something would happen to get rid of him.

Since the cosmos seemed to be feeling magnanimous, something did.

She heard someone snort behind her, a snort she immediately recognized and caused her to turn. "Lee, I know you have bad taste, but even _you_ can do better than micro-snake-Malfart here," Potter said, pointing to Malfoy's crotch.

Malfoy reacted predictably. "Listen, Potter-" he began, only to be cut off by a chorus of "BACK OFF, BLONDIE!" from Potter and Fei both.

Fei grinned, although it looked like a snarl. Potter's face had the same look. She was going to enjoy this…

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_That was awfully nice of Potter, bailing me out of the ferret like that. This morning's looking up! _

_Swearing at Potter is always fun, especially since he's such a challenge! He's creative (not as creative as me, of course) and knows how to go after low blows (although I can go lower). _

_Well, can you blame me for enjoying myself?_

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After Arithmancy and Charms, it was off to lunch! Fei wasn't a pig, but she _did_ enjoy her three squares a day like any normal person. And when she got to the Great Hall, who else would she meet but Potter?

She did a quick look around. No teachers, no Weasley Prefect, no Winter, scans all clear across the board!

After a refreshing swear-out, conveniently interrupted by a teacher midway through lunch so they could eat, it was off to Care Of Magical Creatures! She and Potter 'conversed' all the way, causing money to exchange hands and run the Hogwarts economy. Fei made a note to ask the Hufflepuffs for her cut.

Care of Magical Creatures was, as usual, a joke. Ever since that Hippogriff cut up Malfoy's arm (git deserved it), things have been pretty boring. Idly, Fei wished Malfoy had died instead.

At the end of the class, they 'converse' all the way back to the school, until that Weasley Prefect pops up. After that, Potter heads for the library. Fei couldn't care less.

Walking into the Great Hall, Fei's only reaction to what she sees is a raised eyebrow.

It seems someone has decided to run the House Tables into chocolate. The utensils, upon further inspection, were foil-covered chocolate.

As everyone exclaimed over the chocolate and asked whose idea it was, Fei drew back, extending her senses. After a while, she managed to identify the 'feel' of the Clow Card behind the background of other people. It had to be a Clow Card: no one else in Hogwarts except a teacher would be able to pull this off, and they wouldn't.

The trail was starting to fade a bit, so Fei started to follow it, trying to ignore the temptation of breaking off pieces of the tables and devouring them…

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_DAMN! Why, of all times for a Clow Card to appear, would it be when there are four tables of chocolate to eat? This Card had better be worth what I'm missing out!_

_Is that **caramel filling**…?_

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Discretely wiping the drool dripping out of her mouth, Fei drew her wand as she approached the unsuspecting sprite in front of her. It was pretty small, about as tall as her forearm and probably able to stand in the palm of her hand. It had candy-cane-striped leggings, and was wearing a dress that looked suspiciously like cotton candy, with little gumdrops dotting it randomly and a fuzzy wand that looked like it was also topped with cotton candy.

Fei took a nano-second to squash the guilt that threatened to prick her, before pointing her wand at the sprite. "_Flipendo,_" she whispered.

The blue bolt of magic struck the sprite dead-on. It gave a small cry and tumbled out of the air, unconscious.

The Great Hall was suddenly besieged with cries, groans and complains as the tables turned back into wood. This was pretty unfortunate for the greedy ones who weren't satisfied with tearing out large chunks and had to bite straight from the tables. A lot of the cries were from those, as they seemed to have splinters in their mouths.

Picking up the knocked-out Clow Card, Fei wrapped an _ofuda_ around her, and activated it. It was a spare locking _ofuda_ she had, this one designed to shock the person who tried to undo it properly. She figured it would to hold the micro sprite.

Tucking the Clow Card into her robe pocket, Fei set off to find Potter…

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_I love the library. Growing up with my sister and female cousins has taught me the value and pleasure of silence. Sometimes, my future-brother-in-law and I would sneak away to hide in my aunt's study, where no one was allowed to go. That was the only spot in the whole house we could be assured peace and quiet…._

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"Potter!" Fei hissed from behind the bookcase.

Potter turned around, eyes narrowing at the sight of her, but she raised her finger to her lips in the universal gesture for silence. Jerking her thumb towards the door, she indicated he follow him. Not waiting for an answer, she went on ahead herself.

She waited within sight of the library doors, and when he finally emerged a few minutes later, she discretely waved at him to follow her, and immediately turned and started walking. He headed for where she could feel there were no crowds. Her magic sense was a strange thing: it got drowned out by all the magic users in Hogwarts, so unless the Clow Card was almost literally blazing with power, it could hide among the population. Yet, if she concentrated, she could 'feel' a single specific signature as long as it was within range. Usually, she didn't bother 'listening' like that unless she and Potter were within swearing distance of each other, so that was probably why he didn't 'feel' her in the library.

Entering what she knew was an abandoned classroom, since even ghosts and Peeves had a signature, she waited for Potter to catch up.

"What's this about?" he said as soon as he'd closed the door.

"I'm here to cash in on our deal," Fei said as she pulled the now conscious sprite out of her pocket. "Seal this one for me."

Potter blinked and stared in the most satisfying fashion. "Where did you find _her_?"

"The Great Hall," Fei said smugly. "It turned a lot of it into chocolate."

Potter whistled, then shot a look at her. It was like he was reminding himself she was the one he was talking to. "You got lucky."

"Sometimes luck is all it takes," Fei gloated.

Potter snorted in annoyance, but took the Key from around his neck. "Key of power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"

Fei watched with well-concealed envy as the seemingly innocuous Key elongated and grew into a red wand.

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_That Key was supposed to be mine! My aunt sent me to England for the purpose of gathering the Clow Cards and becoming their Mistress. I don't know how she learned that they had been unleashed. Or why she didn't tell me Potter was already gathering them. Or perhaps she didn't know?_

_No matter. I have been trained for this, to gain Clow Reed's legacy and bring them to our family!_

_Potter can keep the Sealing Wand for now. It will still be mine when I become Mistress of the Cards!_

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"Which Card is this?" Potter said, hefting the Wand in both hands as he peered at the sprite closely.

Fei rolled her eyes. "Does it matter?" she said sarcastically.

Potter shot her a look. "Yes. Maybe. I've only Sealed Clow Cards I've known the names of. I'm not sure I can Seal them if I don't know who they are. You seem to know a lot about the Cards. Are you telling me you don't know who _this_ one is?"

Fei frowned. The information her family had on the Cards was incomplete at best. She'd known only Loop's description, for one, so she had to ask Fight for it's name.

Potter shook his head. "Never mind! You might burn out the few brain-cells you have. Let's try it my way."

Fei blinked when he knelt in front of her, until she realized he was actually kneeling to be more-or-less level with the sprite.

"Hey," he said in a surprisingly gentle voice. "What's your name?"

The sprite shook slightly in her hands. She craned her head to get a better view of it's face, but Potter's hand on her arm stopped her.

"It's alright," he said, his tone clashing with his iron grip. "I won't hurt you. I just need your name."

The sprite seemed to swallow, before saying, in a surprisingly clear and soft voice, "Sweet.".

Potter smiled, and Fei was suddenly reminded of the Headmaster. "Hey there, Sweet. I'm the Card Captor. I'm afraid I'm going to have to Seal you now. But don't worry. I promise it'll be over quick, and then you'll be fine."

The smile not leaving his face as he slowly stood up and backed away, he kept his eyes on the Sweet's as he raised his Wand above his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form. Sweet Card!"

Potter brought his Wand down, and the weight in Fei's hands slowly became lighter as The Sweet Card began to dissolve. Within moments, there was only an empty _ofuda_ in her hands.

The Clow Card under Potter's Wand drifted towards her, and she reflexively grabbed it out of the air.

Potter gave her another look. "I wasn't going to _take _her from you."

"Better safe than sorry," Fei said dryly as she tucked the Clow Card into her pocket. "Thank you for your help. Now if you'll excuse me…"

But Potter barred her way to the door. "Not yet. We have to talk."

"Clow Card's gone," Fei said. "We have nothing to talk about."

"Yes, we do," Potter said. "I don't like the way you treat your Clow Cards."

"And what would _you _know ofhow I treat my Cards?" Fei challenged.

"I saw how you treated Fight. You acted like she were your House Elf, or your slave."

"So what?"

Potter glared at her. "I don't like it. If that's how you're going to treat them if you become the Mistress of the Cards, then I have half a mind to take back our truce now."

Fei bristled. "Why don't you?"

"The only reason I'm not is because Fight seemed to want to stay with you, and I have no right interfering with her wishes."

Fei sniffed, brushing past him towards the door. "Then get out of my way, because _her_ wish is to serve me when I become Mistress of the Cards!"

"We'll see!" Potter declared, before the door cut him off.

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_Oh, I forgot to tell you about my dreams! My dream is to become the Mistress of the Cards, and to see my favorite cousin happily wed to the one he loves._

_What? You don't believe me? YOU WANT TO LOOSE SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES YOUR EYES?_

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Fei ignored the Slytherins nursing jaws and cut tongues as she returned to the dormitories after dinner. A lot of people had had difficulty eating because of the abrupt return of the tables to their normal state. The Weasley twins were trying to find the perpetrator of this particular incident, going so far as to helping the prefects. Their reasons are far from altruistic, however. Apparently, they want to get the knowledge of how it was done for use in a scheme for making fake-chocolate pranks.

Yawning, Fei closed the curtains of her four-poster before she got undressing. She had a sneaking suspicion some of the girls she was rooming with swung _that way_, and she was about to encourage them by giving them a free show.

Drawing out the Clow Cards, she made to place them in the small, flat box her aunt had sent her for the purpose, then paused. Sighing, she took out her latest Card, and, holding it between in her right hand, she concentrated. She didn't do this because it took too much concentration to pull off. Using her sword was infinitely easier.

A few minutes later, the miniscule Sweet Card faced Fei. She looked calmer than she had before, and even seemed to courtesy.

Fei got right to the chase. "I'll make a deal you. Serve me. Serve me to the best of your abilities. Serve me faithfully and loyally, doing as I ask of you without question. Serve me and I will serve you. I will swear to be a fair and just Mistress, and never ask for more than you can give. I will swear not to abuse your powers, nor to put you in harm's way. Swear this and I will protect you and your brethren under my charge. Refuse, and I will never trouble you again."

The little sprite listened patiently as Fei made her spiel, the same one she'd given Fight after she'd realized she needed assurance, the same one she'd given to Loop and Maze.

After all, Fei came from a noble family, and she'd always been taught that with her position came responsibilities. If there were none, it only meant she did not know them.

When she had been taught magic, one thing that had been drilled into her was that magic always had some kind of price. Usually, it was the tiredness that came from casting spells. However, the greater the magic, the greater the price.

This would be her price, and her responsibility.

Finally, The Sweet nodded. "As you say, Mistress. I swear."

Fei sighed. "I swear."

Fei felt as if she had taken part in a contract when she said those words. Who's to say that she had not? After all, there were ancient magics at work in all things, and for all she knew, it had worked here.

Waving the hand The Sweet Card wasn't standing on, Fei said, "You may go."

Nodding, The Sweet rose up and, to Fei's surprised, and planted a- literally- small kiss on her cheek, before dissolving back to her Card state.

Raising a hand to the spot, Fei smiled slightly as she returned Sweet's form back into the box. Laying down on her bed, she closed her eyes, and waited for the release dreams would bring…

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_My name is Lee Fei, or Fei Lee, whatever. _

_I'm thirteen years old and a member of Slytherin House, on my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _

_I'm one of the smartest girls in my class, and the smartest person in my whole House!_

_I like math, Arithmancy, anime, Naruto and Hinata as a couple, accessories from animes, the works of Ken Akamatsu, Rumiko Takahashi, **W.I.T.C.H.**, **Ragnarok**, **The Sandman**, the author **Raijinkage the Write-sama**, chocolate in all it's form except white,the library, and Winter Moon!_

_I dislike people who insinuate that I'm gay, the Card Captor, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and the wait between the time you put in the hot water in instant noodles and the time you can finally eat it._

_My dreams are to become the Mistress of the Cards and to see my favorite cousin happily married to the one he loves. Those, and to have the heart of someone special…_

_My name is Fei, and this is who I am…_

_Do you know who you are?_

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: What? I _like_ Fei. Even though she's Slytherin, she's my OC. My little snaky girl…

She now has The Fight, Loop, Maze and Sweet. Harry has Windy, Mirror, Dash, Shadow, Jump, Earthy, Flowery, Wood, Shot, Time, Light, Dark, Thunder, Sword and Rain. Things are getting closer!

I seem to remember Syaoran doing the same thing with The Dash Card once, so there's canon precedent.

Special thanks to: **Ran Hoshino, damon blade, Darklight, dark672, Jenrai, Tombadgerlock, Korrd, **and **AzureSky123.** Sorry, I'm a little busy, so I can't reply. Check out 'Uzumaki Harry' to find out why. Maybe next time. Definitely next time…

Please review, C&C welcome. Heck, even flames are welcome. That means at least it's being read, if not liked.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	14. The Sound Of Her Wings

A/N: I'd like to take this opportunity to pimp **Mikazukino Hikari**'s fic, '**_Harry Potter and the Order of the Cherry Blossom_**'. It's great, if incomplete. Maybe if enough of us send reviews, she'll go back to working on it?

Time Jump! This is now somewhen during chapter ten of Prisoner of Azkaban. On a weekend, of course…

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 14, The Time: The Sound of Her Wings…

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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Hermione was worried about Harry. The boy just hadn't been himself lately. Ever since his Nimbus 2000 had been smashed by the Whomping Willow a few days ago, he'd been… distant, to say the least. It had gotten better after he told her he'd arranged anti-Dementor classes with Lupin, and he seemed alright in public- most of the time- but when no one was looking, he tended to stare off into space, eyes glassy and sad.

Not that Hermione really had that much time to watch her friend. What with all her classes, not to mention the Time-Turner, she was barely keeping her act together herself. Honestly, what was all the fuss about a broom?

Sighing, she closed her eyes, debating whether or not she should use the Time Turner to steal a few more hours sleep…

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Ron looked over at Harry worriedly. The other boy was sitting on his bed with his legs crossed, supposedly doing his homework. That was exactly what was bothering the redhead. Harry had been doing his homework robotically for days! It wasn't natural on anyone but Hermione and Percy.

Still, Ron kept his mouth shut. He knew better than to intrude on his friend's grief. Some things just had to be suffered alone, or it just took longer, with more scarring…

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Winter, as usual, was engrossed in reading her fanfics. Currently, Sasuke-succubus was being confronted by Sakura about being a girl, although there seemed to a lot of romantic undertones...

"Yes!" Winter said as Sasuke and Sakura kissed, only to be walked in on by Ino.

Winter promptly walked into an open door, slamming full on into it.

"Ouch," she muttered…

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Fei lay back in her bed, the curtains of her four-poster drawn as usual. Her roommates were used to it by now. They also knew any attempt to disturb her would result in some _very_ painful spells being sent their way, so they stayed far away.

Lying back on her pillows, a Hidden Snow _hitae-ate_ on her forehead, the descendant of Clow Reed admired her latest acquisitions. Five _beautiful_ Clow Cards. The Little, The Big, The Arrow, The Illusion and The Shield Cards were hers to command!

Not bad, considering Potter had only been able to catch lately were two Cards and an accident. All he'd gotten had been The Float and The Erase, and while Fei was annoyed he'd caught anything at all, at least she was gaining on him.

Sighing, Fei reached for what she'd dubbed her Clow Box, careful of her injuries. Arrow had managed to graze her with her multiplying arrows before Fei had managed to disarm her. A flash of annoyance flickered through the Chinese girl. She'd almost gotten turned into a pincushion because _Potter_ had been slacking off about Sealing the Cards. If he'd actually been faster, _he_ would have gotten The Illusion instead of her.

Fei frowned at the memories. Ever since the Quidditch match, Potter had been acting... different. It annoyed her for some reason. Actually, she knew why it annoyed her. It was because he hadn't been good for any release lately. He would barely fire up a retort before going away and leaving her high and dry.

As a result, she'd become short tempered lately, causing even Malfoy to stay away from her. Thankfully, the Slytherin girls thought she was being moody because she was having her period, so her current attitude wasn't in any way associated to anything.

Sighing, she wished Potter would just get over his stupid broom so she'd get her rival back, instead of some mopey wimp…

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Harry lay on his bed, unable to sleep. Next to him, Dash snoozed, already slumbering, and had been for the past hour. Idly, his hand stroked the Card's soft fur, trying to find it in him to fall into dreams.

It was no go…

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The next day, Harry trudged sleepily towards the Gryffindor table, under the concerned eyes of Ron and Hermione. Falling into the bench, Harry grabbed the nearest platter of food and started filling his plate. When that was done, he began eating mechanically.

"Harry," Hermione began, "maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey? You look like you haven't slept in days!"

"I'm fine, Hermione," Harry said dully, not looking up from his plate, which he'd started to fill up again.

"Seriously, mate, you look like hell," Ron said, equally concerned.

"I'm fine," Harry repeated. Finishing his plate quickly, he stood up and left.

"No, Harry," Hermione whispered behind him. "You're not."

Sighing, Hermione lay her forehead on the table in front of her. "All this over a stupid broom?"

"Watch it," Ron cautioned. "He'll hear you!"

"But it was just a stupid broom!" Hermione said.

Ron rolled his eyes. _And she calls **me** insensitive..._

"Maybe to you. But it was Harry's. Let me put it this way: how would _you_ feel if someone incinerated your favorite book?" Ron proposed.

"Oh," Hermione said in a small voice. "I didn't think of it like that."

Ron made a mental note to rib Hermione for this little insensitivity on her part next time she said he had the emotional range of a spoon.

"So what are we going to do?" Hermione said.

"You're asking me?" Ron was incredulous. Hermione was usually the opinionated one with all the ideas. "You're the smart one!"

Hermione looked at him. Her eyes looked blank, as if she herself hadn't been sleeping, but that wasn't what gave Ron pause. It was the look _in_ them, one that clearly said "I don't want to think about this, please do my thinking for me!". It surprised Ron, as Hermione was always the thinker of their little group. Harry was the raw nerve, bravery, and sheer dumb luck.

He, of course, was the good looks, charm, and animal magnetism.

"I suppose," Ron ventured, "that we ought to try cheering him up?"

At any other time, Hermione would have rolled her eyes, maybe snorted, and said something like "brilliant idea, Ronald" in a sarcastic voice, promptly inciting a row between them. Now, however, she just nodded, not seeming to hear the question mark at the end of his sentence. "How do we do that? It's not like he's going to be agreeable to being cheered up."

Ron pondered. "What's the one thing in the whole castle that would send Harry through the roof with happiness?"

The two thought it over silently, considering.

"Malfoy dying?" Ron suggested.

"Probably not enough at this point," Hermione said.

"Snape dying?"

"Too hard to pull off."

"The Slytherin Quidditch team dying?"

"Hmm… Wood will probably help us… No, most of them are too dumb to know they're dead."

They both lapsed back into thoughtful silence, a rare thing for Ron to participate in. Suddenly the proverbial light bulb went off around their heads. Ron grinned, looking at Hermione, who was suddenly grinning back.

"WINTER!" they chorused.

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Managing to convince Hermione to take a break from her relentless studying, she and Ron wandered the castle, looking for the silver-haired Ravenclaw. Since they didn't know the girl well enough to know _where_ to look, they settled for the time-honored method of 'walk around all over the place and hope you bump into her some time very soon'.

After an hour or so of searching, they finally found the girl sitting in an isolated corner of the library, reading a thick sheaf of what Hermione recognized as computer printouts. Approaching cautiously, Hermione cleared her throat. "Um, Winter?"

The girl looked up, surprised, but quickly smiling. "Oh, hello! You're Hermione Granger, right ? And, um, Ron Weasley? Harry's friends?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, that's us."

Winter's smile brightened. "Well, any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine! What can I do for you?"

The two Gryffindor looked at each other, and Ron made a gesture for her to go on. Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes. How did _she_ end up spokesperson? "It's about Harry. We need your help..."

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"You're pathetic, Potter. If a little thing like a busted broom is all it takes to break you, then you should have just given me the Key when I'd asked you to!"

The words echoed accusingly around the room, long after Lee had left in disgust. Harry tried to ignore them, but they gnawed at him, digging deep and spreading like a cancer. He was _so_ tired of people referring to his Nimbus as just a broom! Only Ron seemed to understand, and even then, not completely.

Sighing, he settled back on his perch on the window, staring out over the lake. He ignored the dust around him. The dust didn't matter. The desks stacked high up in one corner of the room, the swear words Peeves had written at some point in time on the blackboard of the unused classroom, none of this mattered. Not these, not the mouse tracks on the floor, not the door opening...

Door opening?

Harry turned slightly, enough to get the door in more than his peripheral vision. Yup, definitely opening.

He turned away, intending to completely ignore the intruder. Maybe whoever it was would take the hint.

"Harry?" voice said. A familiar voice.

Harry's head snapped around, and he winced as he felt something '_crck_'. That wasn't nice.

He saw Winter wince slightly at the sound as he rubbed his neck, grateful for the lack of lasting damage. "Hey Winter," he said, trying to sound casual, trying to keep the angst- and he admitted it was angst, and not just bitterness/depression/what-have-you- out of his voice. Swiftly, he tried to put together some kind of brave front. No way was he going to look like a pathetic loser in front of his crush!

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Fei leaned back on the stone wall, listening to the rise and fall of the voices coming from the door next to her. She'd been doing it for the past hour and more. One voice was predominant, although the other voice would pipe up every so often. Sometimes, the two would share a laugh, which had started happening more during the past twenty minutes or so.

Sighing, Fei wondered why the heck she was doing this. As things stood, she was in a _very_ good position if she let things continue as they were. So why?

She didn't know. Not really. All she knew was that Hogwarts wasn't really that fun anymore without Potter to swear at. At least back when there were teachers and that Weasley prefect crawling everywhere, he'd still been willing to go for a quick round whenever they could find the time, but now…

His fire was gone. That was the only way she could put it. He had no fire, no _drive_ anymore. He wasn't the boy she knew and loathed. And she missed him for it.

Shuddering, she shook her head, trying to clear it of the hateful thought, but it wouldn't go away. Sighing, she resigned herself. Alright, she missed the old Card Captor a little. Just a little. At least back then he'd been a challenge, impetus for her to get better. But now…

Now he was barely good for Sealing the Cards.

Yes, that was why she was doing this. So he'd become useful again. At the moment, she was the only one working on her part of the truce, doing all the work. It was about time he started pulling his own weight! Yes, that was it…

She moved to her feet when she felt someone from inside the room approaching the door next to her. The door opened, and Winter came out, a pleased smile of a job well done on her face.

"How is he?" she asked casually, sounding as indifferent as Uchiha Sasuke. It was ironic, as she was wearing her Sharingan earrings and Curse Seal pendant.

Winter's smile widened. "I think he'll be fine now. He just needed someone to talk to and cheer him up."

Fei nodded, half-listening. She could feel Potter still in the classroom, sitting at the same spot as before. "Why do you think he's so depressed?"

Winter tapped her lips with her finger thoughtfully, head tilted to one side, tapping her foot. "I.. think it's because he's afraid."

"Afraid?" Fei said incredulously.

Winter nodded. "Yeah…I think riding on a broom was one of the most… happy memories he has… and now that his broom is gone, he's afraid he'll never recover that feeling again…"

Winter stared off into space for a moment. "I wonder what it's like to fly? It must be wonderful…"

Fei, however, frowned. "He's afraid he'll never fly again? That's ridiculous! How could something like that get him this depressed?"

Winter shrugged. "Maybe he's just had a lousy home life. That could certainly do it…"

For a moment, there was a look in Winter's eye, one that Fei had never seen before in the usually _genki _girl, a look that seemed very out of place. Before she could get a closer look at it, however, Winter blinked, and the look was gone, replaced by Winter's ever-present smile. Fei felt herself grow warm as that smile was directed at her…

"It's really nice of you to want to try and cheer him up," Winter said, "but why didn't you go in there yourself?"

Fei shrugged. "I… don't really want to see him like this. It just seems wrong, seeing him so different from the person I usually know…"

Winter nodded in understanding, and Fei breathed a mental sigh of relief as the other girl bought it. "I see. Well, it's still very considerate of you to ask me to talk to him like that. A lot of your advice really cheered him up."

Fei forced what looked like a smile on her face. "I'm glad," she lied.

"So," Winter said, "you wanna go hang out at our spot? Sun's about to go down, and it'll look good."

Fei paused, wanting nothing more than to say yes and thank her lucky stars for the invitation, but shook her head. "Uh, sorry Winter, but I… I want to wait here and see how he's doing…"

Winter looked a little put off, and Fei cringed internally, but nodded in understanding. "I understand. Keep your friends close. You're a good person, Lee. Harry's lucky to have you as a friend."

Fei managed a wan smile, trying not to gag. Friend? YUCK! AS IF! "How about we go tomorrow?"

Winter grinned. "I'll hold you to that! It's a date then!"

Leaning forward, Winter gave Fei a peck on the cheek and skipped off, never noticing the wonderful crimson shade Fei became…

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When Harry arrived at the Great Hall for supper, he was in a better mood than he was at breakfast. Seeing this, Ron and Hermione exchanged knowing smiles. Their plan had worked, it seemed.

Had they looked a little closer, they'd have noticed that his smile was a tad bit stiff, his cheer a wee bit forced...

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Later that evening, Harry climbed up to the third year dorm room, closing the door behind him as he did so. Instantly, the smile he'd been wearing for Ron and Hermione's benefit slipped off, and sort of fell raggedly on the floor, where it caught fire and turned to ash. A blank, tired expression appeared on his face, not exactly depressed, but the look of someone not wanting to have to feel much.

It had been _very_ nice of Winter to go try and cheer him up, and it had worked to a degree, but he still couldn't help feeling a little bit down. Considering the fact he would usually consider himself capable of dying a happy man if Winter had ever spent time alone in a room with him, he'd been _very_ depressed.

"About time you got here," a voice said, resounding through the seemingly empty room.

Harry didn't bother to look around. "Hey, Kero."

The little Sun Guardian was hovering in mid-air above the mattress of Harry's bed. Somehow, he managed to frown and look concerned at the same time.

Harry beat him to what he knew was another brewing lecture. "No, there haven't been any Clow Cards popping up recently. Yes, I'm perfectly aware Lee managed to catch the last three in a row. Yes, I know I'm supposed to be better than her since I'm the chosen Card Captor and not just some busy body who claims to be Clow Reed's descendant. And, _yes_, I realize that my inattention nearly got you skewered by The Arrow Card. So can we skip the lecture and let me** go to sleep?**"

Not waiting for an answer, he started getting dressed for bed, ignoring Kero's glare.

After a while, Kero said, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Kero," Harry said with just the slightest bit of sarcasm. "Why wouldn't I be."

"Because your other friends are worried about you too," he said. "That's generally not a good sign."

"I'm fine," Harry said, crawling into bed. He pointedly turned his back on Kero and buried his head under his blanket.

Kero was torn between staying worried and pulling Harry out of bed and shaking him violently. Instead, the little plushy sighed, and headed into his little sleeping cocoon...

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_The Master hurts,_ a voice said. It was a voice that sounded usually light and cheery, yet worry and concern weighed upon it, like harp strings under a little too much tension.

_Gee, really? We didn't notice_, another voice said sarcastically. The voice was sharp, and hinted at quick, cutting wit.

_None of that,_ yet another voice said airily, yet there was a distinct hint of command, of one who knew she'd be obeyed, so she didn't care to watch if she was.

The cutting, sarcastic one grumbled slightly, but didn't say anything. Although technically more powerful than her, Windy outranked her as an elemental Card, so Sword kept her mouth shut. Figuratively, of course. Sword didn't _have_ a mouth.

_What do we do?_ a slightly air-headed voice asked. Flower always was something of a ditz. _What can we do? How do we cheer him up?_

_I don't think he wants to be cheered up,_ Dash said slowly, thoughtfully, as was her manner, despite her power. _I think he intends to let his mood stay..._

_But we must do something, _Mirror said worriedly. _We serve him. How can we claim to be in his service if we do nothing to help?_

_Is there anything we can do?_ Shot said. _I mean, it's not as if we have the power to cheer people up. _

_Still, there must be** something**... _Mirror angsted. Had she been in her physical form right then, she would have been wringing her hands in helplessness.

_Do not underestimate our young Master_, Light said.

**_He is strong. He will weather this trial of the heart,_** Dark said.

_Will he? _Earthy said. _He's suffering more now than he did in any of our tests._

_Time heals all wounds,_ Time said, trying to sound wise and sagely.

_If that were true, why do I still miss Master Clow?_ Sword said cuttingly.

There was only silence, each Card praying for the Master they had come to love...

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"Harry! Pssst! Harry, wake up darn it!"

Harry moaned as he turned over, trying to get back to sleep, then abruptly jerked awake as the familiar feeling of a Clow Card made itself known. Grumpily, he checked the time. It was a little after midnight. Why was it that these things _always_ picked the most inconvenient, inopportune time to pop up? Was it some kind of unwritten law?

(Actually, yes. If you refer to the magical girls handbook, page nineteen 'when things may attack', it is a requirement that 'things' pop up when least convenient for the heroine. These times include: in the middle of the night; during a romantic-once-in-a-season date with love interest; when heroine has lost something treasured, usually from love interest; during school productions or events; in public, where there are lots of witnesses that can potentially blow secret identity, etc.

(A modified form is used in the superheroes handbook, but since this is a CC cross, Harry is operating under magical girl rules. Stinks to be him.)

Harry was very tempted to just roll over and get back to sleep, but Keroberos was already lifting him up and trying to position his feet into his shoes, hard as that was to do. It was made harder by the fact that Kero was shaking him hard, and muttering a rapid-fire lecture about how he _must_ Catch this one, as his honor as the Card Captor depended on it.

Grumbling, Harry shrugged Keroberos off, getting dressed by himself. Grabbing his Invisibility Cloak, Cards and Wands, he activated Jump and dropped out the window, Kero following after.

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It took a couple of jumps, but Harry finally managed to get where the 'feelings' were coming from, which turned out to be the Quidditch field. And, surprise, surprise, it turns out he wasn't the only one who woke up that night.

Lee was currently being buffeted by high winds as what looked like a giant white bird- a swan?- flew overhead, the source of said winds. Harry's Cloak flopped around him, and he was thankful he'd thought to fasten it securely. It _did_ make him look weird, though, parts of him disappearing and reappearing as the wind blew.

"Potter," Lee said dryly. "So glad you could join me. Oh, and I see you bought your little pet too. How cute."

"Shut up, Lee," Harry said in annoyance, not noticing the flicker of disappointment in Lee's eyes at those unimaginative words. Reaching under his robe, Harry drew out The Windy Card. Lee sniffed when she saw it.

"Great, just what we need," she said sarcastically. "_More_ wind!"

"You have a better idea?" Harry snapped.

"Ignore her, Harry!" Kero said, giving the Slytherin girl the evil eye. "The Windy Card will work! Don't mind her!"

Lee, however, was pulling out a Card from a wooden case from her robes. Grinning to herself, she brought her sword down on it. "ILLUSION CARD!"

A brilliant net of light appeared above the Quidditch field, blazing with a pattern not unlike that of a kaleidascope. To an observer from outside, there was only a momentary flicker, before the image of the giant bird completely disappeared, and everything looked perfectly normal. Inside, however, was a different story.

Harry and Kero fell to the ground as the winds picked up to nearly hurricane force, trying not to get swept away. Harry kept a firm grip on The Windy Card, making sure it didn't get away. Above them, the giant bird was going crazy, spiraling downward in ever more frantic gestures as if trying to get away from something. Above it, the net of light and Illusion contracted, trapping the giant Clow sprite, even thought Harry knew that Illusion was exactly that, all image and no substance.

A few feet away, Lee was crouched down and grinning triumphantly as the giant bird came closer to the ground. "Well, Potter? What are you waiting for? SEAL IT!"

"What's it called?" Harry yelled back. Lee shrugged.

Grumbling, Harry turned to Keroberos.

The little Guardian frowned as much as his face was able, before saying, looking as if the words left a sour taste in his mouth, "It's The Fly Card."

Harry frowned too. It looked like they both saw where this was leading. Still, he had no choice. Stupid truce. What the heck had possessed him to suggest that, anyway? Scowling, Harry raised up his Sealing Wand as best as he could, muttering the words under his breath…

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Harry tried not to look too sick as he watched Lee pluck the Fly Card out of the air. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Instead, he turned away, intending to get back to his dorm and maybe go back to sleep and try to forget about this latest disappointment.

"Potter, wait!"

He stopped in his tracks, turning on his heel in annoyance. "WHAT?" he snapped.

"What's gotten into you lately?" Lee said, looking strangely annoyed and puzzled at the same time. "You've been moping around, been worse than useless going after Clow Cards, and oh, just now? The Windy Card might have actually worked if you'd just bothered to use it instead of standing around there watching me like an idiot."

"Haven't you heard?" Harry said scathingly. "It's because I'm such a crybaby over loosing my broom. Besides, why do _you_ care?"

Lee frowned at him, not rising to the bait. "I _care_, as you quaintly put it, because if you don't get your act together, one or both of us is going to get killed, because you're worse than useless as you are, and I can't watch out for myself and dead weight at the same time, Sealing Wand or no Sealing Wand!"

"No one's asking you to!"

"So loathe as I am to actually do something beneficial for you, you'd better tell be what your problem is so I can fix it and have a marginally more useful Card Captor, or else I'm going to _beat_ it out of you!" Lee finished.

Harry was about to tell her to get lost when he felt a nudge at the back of his head. Literally.

He turned to look at Keroberos in annoyance. "_WHAT?_"

"Tell her," he said. "Because the priss is right: you're starting to be pretty useless."

Harry glared at the little winged being, feeling betrayed. "You too?"

"Out with it, Potter!" Lee said, coming closer, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "I don't have all night!"

Harry redirected his glare at her. "You wouldn't understand."

Lee smirked. "Try me."

Harry remained silently defiant.

Lee sighed, muttering she didn't have time for this. "Is it true you're afraid that without your broom you'll never fly again?"

Harry blinked. "Where did you get a stupid idea like that?"

"Moon," Lee said dryly. "So, is it true? Is that why you've been so moody since your broom broke."

Harry glowered. "(BLEEP) off, Lee," he said, turning away.

"I'll take that as a provisionally yes," he heard her say. "FLY CARD!"

There was a burst of magic behind Harry, and he heard Keroberos gasp. Before he could turn, however, someone- presumably Lee- tackled him from behind, and suddenly his mind was taken by the heady sensation of speed as he felt his feet leave the ground. He looked down, in time to see the Quidditch field getting smaller and smaller from under him.

"Lee, PUT ME DOWN!" he yelled, trying not to squirm, trying not to move too much or at all, trying not to give her a reason for dropping him. Was that what she had in mind? Killing him and taking the Sealing Wand and his Clow Cards for herself?

"No," her voice said succinctly into his ear. Her hand grabbed his wrist in a vise-like grip, and before he knew it, she'd let go, and the only thing that was keeping him from plummeting to the ground was her seemingly unbreakable grip on his wrist. Desperately, he grabbed hers, trying to secure the hold so that he wouldn't fall.

"This isn't funny!"

"It's not meant to be."

"LEE…!"

"_Silencio!_"

Harry suddenly found that he couldn't talk. Glaring at the Slytherin girl holding his hand –**_EEEEWWW!_**– he tried to convey his displeasure as best as he could…

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An hour later, it was a slightly breathless Harry Lee put down at the base of Gryffindor Tower. He immediately let go of her hand like she had the plague, leprosy and flesh-eating bacteria all at once, glaring at her balefully. She hovered there, out of his reach, two white wings sticking out of her back and making her look like an angel. A casual wave of her wand, a spell muttered under her breath, and he suddenly had his voice back.

"What was the point of all that?" he said sharply, trying to wipe his hand on his robe. Slytherin essence- **_UGH!_**

"That's what you missed, wasn't it?" she said, making it sound like a statement rather than a question. "The thrill of being in the air. Defying gravity itself, and having the sky as your playground."

She tilted her head at him, as if trying to see inside. "I'd understand why'd you'd be all unset over losing the only thing that would give you that freedom, but you know what?" her voice turned sharp, "_Get over it_. You have other responsibilities, other priorities. Besides, it's not like you won't fly again. Or is that why you just won't pick something from the stupid broom catalogue and buy it? Because you think that stupid broom was the only one for you, you _soul mate_, as it were?"

He glared at her. "What do you know?" he hissed, and it almost sounded Parsel Tongue the way he said it.

Thankfully, it was still intelligible to other humans. "Because," Lee said, turning away and drifting off, "I lost a broom once too…"

Harry watched as she drifted out of sight…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Card count. Harry has Windy, Dash, Mirror, Shadow, Jump, Earthy, Wood, Flower, Shot, Time, Dark, Light, Thunder, Sword, Rain, Float and Erase. Fei has Fight, Loop, Maze, Sweet, Big, Little, Illusion, Arrow, Shield and Fly.

I just noticed Keroberos hasn't popped up in a while, so I decided to amend that.

I was too lazy to think up scenarios for those seven Cards, so I cheated. After all, a 'Harry shrinks really small' story is pretty lame.

Special thanks to: **nantukoprime, Tokyo no Ecchi, Sk8er7, Dumbledork, me, LostGryffindorFoundSlytherin, er... A random fan, dark-angel-rosalia, Durial, Ran Hoshino, wizardmon92, dark672, korrd, damon blade, Darklight, Tombadgerlock,** and **AzureSky123**

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

…

…

…

…

…

Hermione (smiling contentedly): "Well, we finally got more or less major roles in this chap."

Ron (looks at her questioningly): "About time, too. How'd you pull it off?"

Hermione (blushing): "I sort of threatened to start going out with Draco Malfoy if we didn't get bigger roles soon."

Ron (grins): "The author hates those fics."

Hermione (smug smile): "I know."

Shadow: "You realize that since I'm going to be following canon, there's a good chance you two will end up together, right?"

Ron: "UGH! COOTIES!"

Hermione: "BRAIN MELTERS! GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!"

Shadow (grins): "And my work here is done. Oh, can people please read and leave reviews at my newest fics? They're **_Digimon 00_**,** _Digimoon 02_**, and **_Raikiri Triken: The Three Souls Swordsman_**. Thanks!"

Goes to work on CCH 15…


	15. Through And Through

A/N: This is after Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff at Quidditch. Some time, about a week, has passed since the last chap.

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 15, The Power: Through and Through...

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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Harry woke up at the crack of dawn, stretching as he did so. Next to him, Dash opened one eye, before closing it again with a yawn.

Grinning, Harry lay back down on his bed, cuddling Dash in his arms, who squeaked in protest before shrugging and moving into him, rubbing her head against his chest as she did so. While not much of a morning person, Dash _did_ enjoy a good cuddle.

Harry let his hand stroke Dash's fur on its own as he stared up at the ceiling above his bed. He'd made the resolution last night, after a lot of stewing and soul searching, but he wanted to reaffirm it. Starting today, he was going to go on with his life. He was _not_ going to dwell on-

Harry managed not to choke at the thought.

- Nim-chan. There, he'd said it. He was going to get over his sweet, beloved loyal-

His throat tensed up slightly.

- Nim-chan. She wouldn't want him to dwell on her sacrifice, to stagnate. He will not let her sacrifice be in vain!

Nodding to himself, he leaned down and planted a light kiss on Dash's head, before getting up and quietly getting dressed. Grabbing a bag from a place of honor- his bedside table, illuminated by two candles- he made his way out the dorm.

A little while later, Dash, realizing she was alone, shrugged and shifted back to Card form, managing to slip under Harry's pillow, knowing her Master would be back before the House Elves came to fix the bed...

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Harry solemnly placed the bundle, filled with all that was left of his precious Nimbus 2000- Nim-chan- into the shallow grave he'd dug. It had been difficult, doing it with his bare hands, but doing it by wand felt wrong somehow (and he really had no idea what spell to use for it).

That done, he bowed his head in respect and reverence, paying his last respects to a loyal, worthy-

He tried not to choke up again.

- friend.

With one final sigh, he headed back towards the castle. His dorm-mates would be waking up soon, and he needed to have his Clow Cards hidden by then…

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Fei woke up with a yawn, rubbing her eyes blearily. She was always this slow to wake during the weekends. That was why she never set her alarm on Friday nights, since she knew she'd just sleep through it.

It was very tempting to just turn over and go back to sleep, but unfortunately, her deeply ingrained habits would not permit it. Checking her Clow Box to see if it was alright, she smiled briefly at the two new additions she'd put in that week. The Move had been aggravating to chase around, especially in the library, but acquiring The Voice had actually been kind of fun. Who knew Professor Snape's voice was any good for singing? She really enjoyed The Voice's rendition of 'Superman'. Slightly disturbing to hear it in her Head-of-House's voice, but a nice listen none the less.

After a quick shower, and tucking her Clow Box under her robes, Fei ducked out of Slytherin House, intending to make her way to the Great Hall and breakfast. Her thoughts were devoted to the idea of food, drink, and maybe talking to Winter.

Thus, she never noticed the foot on her path until it was too late, and she was sent sprawling face first on the floor.

"Watch your step, Lee, that first one is a doozy," someone said.

Fei blinked as she tried to get to her feet. No, it cant' be…

It was. Potter smirked down at her, a look slightly reminiscent of Draco Malfoy on his face.

Fei growled, scrambling to her feet, but Potter was faster. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at her. "_Silencio!_"

Fei glared at him in impotent rage as he kept on smirking. Then, in front of the gathering and gather crowd, he verbally began to rip her up one side and down the other, then sideways, and a couple of directions not known to exist. He insulted her House, her taste in boys, made suggestions on why she liked to hang around Draco Malfoy, and then he stopped being nice…

By the time he was finished, about an hour later, the Entrance Hall was completely packed, and money was swiftly changing hands as long overdue bets were called and collected with gusto. Fei was very tempted to jump on his back and start stabbing her with the _kunai_ she had strapped to her right leg as she smoldered, but a small part of her was infected with joy.

The Potter she knew was back!

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In the Great Hall, there was a big round of applause at the Gryffindor table, which Harry pretended to ignore. Seating himself at his usual spot, he was quickly joined by Ron and Hermione, the former grinning widely and the latter looking like she couldn't decide whether to do the same or be scandalized.

Harry breathed a big sigh, his eyes closed and basking in the moment, before he opened them again. "That felt **_SO_** good!" he said, reaching for the bacon.

"About _bloody_ time, Harry!" Ron praised, patting him on the back. Hermione was giving him weird looks, and he could tell she was debating whether or not to lecture him or congratulate him.

"Did you like the show?" he said gleefully, beginning a mental countdown.

"Smashing!" Fred said as he appeared behind Hermione.

"Stupendous!" George agreed, appearing next to Ron.

"I thought as much," Harry said, holding out his hand and wangling his finger. "My cut, please?"

Harry's internal countdown reached zero as he pocketed the money the twins handed him. Mt. Hermione exploded.

"**HARRY JAMES EVANS POTTER, HOW COULD YOU…**"

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Winter was walking down the stairs, for once not reading from her omni-present sheaf of fics, when she suddenly caught sight of Fei, who was standing off to one side and making frantic wand movements, without any apparent effect. Curious, the Ravenclaw girl made her way towards her. "Lee? Is everything alright?"

The ruby-eyed girl scowled, shaking her head violently and pointing at herself with her wand and mouthing a spell. Unfortunately, Winter was having a little trouble reading her lips.

"Up and down go and burn them?" Winter said in confusion, clearly misinterpreting what Fei was trying to say.

With a sigh, Fei reached into her 'weekend' bag, and pulled out one of her numerous sheets of paper- a small pocket sized pad- and a ballpoint pen. Quickly scribbling something down, she tore off the sheet and handed it to Winter. Taking it, the silver-haired girl frowned. It read: "Cast _Finite Incantatem_ on me".

"Oh," Winter said, suddenly getting it. "That's what you meant. Hold on."

Pulling out her wand, she repeated the gestures she'd seen Fei do a few moments before. "_Finite Incantatem_!"

Fei hummed a few bars of "Heart of the Sword", before nodding in satisfaction. "Thank you, Moon. I needed that."

"Glad to help," Winter said. "What happened?"

Fei scowled, although if you looked **_very_** closely, you'd see an odd glint in her eyes. "Someone decided to cast _Silencio_ on me… as a practical joke."

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Need help getting even?"

Fei looked at her in surprise, but smiled nonetheless, chuckling. "No thanks. I want to keep this personal."

Winter shrugged. "Up to you. Tell me how it goes, okay?"

Not waiting for an answer, Winter noticed the number of people already in the Great Hall. "Oh, man! We'd better get going, or else all the good food will be gone!"

Not waiting for Fei, Winter dashed off, intent on getting herself heart-attack inducing amounts of bacon and diabetes causing quantities of jams and preserves on cinnamon rolls…

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Albus Dumbledore smiled in amusement as he listened to Harry Potter's Litany of Almost-Curses waft up to his position at the rail of a stairwell two floors up. Fortunately, there were no students in sight, just him, and Professors Vector and Flitwick, also listening in. It was the only way they or any Professor could, since he and miss Lee had a tendency to be irritatingly close-mouthed and polite to each other when there are Professors around. The three of them winced at a particularly nasty and imaginative word-combination on Harry's part, one that he remembered for later use ifneeded.

"He's really letting off steam, isn't he?" Vector said quietly, not wanting to miss a word.

"It _has_ been two weeks," Flitwick agreed.

Abruptly, the Litany ended and the three old men sighed.

"Merlin's beard, that one was an hour long! A new record!" Dumbledore said, checking his watch.

"That boy has a lot of lung," Flitwick agreed.

They listened for a moment more, but no other words were worth coming. Sighing, Dumbledore undid the Silencing Charm he'd placed on Percy Weasley, who the professors had tried to keep in the dark about Harry and Fei, but had unfortunately walked in on the three of them listening in at the stairwell. He was the second-to-last person in the castle to find out, if Dumbledore was correct.

"Remember," he cautioned, a twinkle in his eyes. "Not a word of this to anyone. And wait twenty minutes or so before you walk in on them, alright? We don't want the show getting cut short."

Percy Weasley nodded, unable to speak as the Headmaster walked away, humming "Flight of the Bumble Bee". He'd never known Harry was capable of talking like that…!

There was _no** way**_ he was telling his mother about this…

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"Glad to see you're finally over your broom," Kero said dryly. "Of course, you could have done it _two weeks earlier_ and spared the two of us an unnecessary amount of humiliation…"

Harry rolled his eyes as the two of them walked around the lake. Since Harry had been pretty much manic-depressant during his 'period of mourning', all his homework for the week had been done, leaving his weekend free. Ron had wanted him to help him with _his_ homework, but Hermione had shushed him and told him to do it himself, and Harry had gone to take a walk with Kero. Which was staring to sound like a bad idea. "Will you give it a rest? What's done is done."

"Unfortunately," Keroberos grumbled.

Idly, Harry tossed a stone out into the water, and watched it skip twice before sinking. He frowned. He'd need to work on that. "Now that we have _that_ settled, anything I should know about? I haven't exactly been paying attention the last few days."

"You don't say?" Kero said dryly.

Harry glared at him. "Don't start _that_ again."

Kero grumbled under his breath, but finally relented. "No, nothing to worry about. Although I don't think that'll last for long."

"How long?"

"Don't jinx it."

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And so, life in Hogwarts castle returned to pretty much normal- or as normal as it ever gets in that wacked-out place. The next time Harry and Lee met, the resulting 'explosion' was spectacular, to say the least, and was talked about all day and a little of the next.

Winter Moon was Officially the only person in the castle who didn't know about the way the two of them 'talked' in public, and that suited them just fine, although the professors were making bets as to how long before she finds out. Come to think of it, some Ravenclaws were doing the same thing. No one told her, however. Where's the fun in that?

Ron finished most of his homework, and was just in time to enjoy a little weekend fun. Hermione finished _all_ her homework, and immediately made up more work for her do, all the while scolding Ron and Harry about working.

Winter dragged Harry and Fei up to 'their spot' and was quietly oblivious to the glares the two exchanged, or the blush Harry had from sitting next to her, or the way Fei's whole body went red. It just looked like it was the effect of the sun…

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Somewhere in the castle, two people were kissing.

"Mmm…" Penelope Clearwater said, before coming up for air. "Percy, we really shouldn't do this, we're in a girls bathroom…!"

"So?" Percy said. "I'm feeling a little adventurous tonight…"

"You naughty boy…" Penelope said, before pulling him down for another kiss, her back against the door so that it wouldn't open…

The next thing they knew, they were in a tangled heap on the cold stone floor outside the haunted girls bathroom that few people knew held the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, staring up at a sternly disapproving Professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" Percy said a bit too loudly. "We can explain…!"

The door to the bathroom was still firmly shut. And locked.

Inside, Moaning Myrtle thanked goodness that those two prefects had stopped making out in her bathroom. Honestly, have they no respect for the dead?

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The following morning, Percy got a Howler. It really made his brothers' and sister's day…

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"That sure was thick of Percy, getting caught like that," Ron said as the three of them walked off to yet another class.

"Yeah, really thick," Harry said distractedly, imaging himself with Winter doing the same thing. Luckily, Ron didn't notice the blush on his face.

Unluckily, the Dark Lady Hermione did.

"So-o-o, Harry…" she drawled. "Gotten lucky yet?"

Harry nearly missed a step, catching himself quickly. His face looked _very_ interesting, and he was deliberately looking only straight ahead. Hermione giggled, pressing her advantage.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried anything yet," she continued. "After all, you were alone with Winter just yesterday. You mean to tell me that the two of you sitting close, watching the sunset together didn't give you any ideas? You're usually so imaginative when it come to your fics. I remember this one lemon scene…"

"Hermione!" Harry almost shrieked, blushing so red he practically invented a new shade.

"Hermione, you still haven't told me what a lemon was," Ron said rather obliviously, although he was enjoying Harry's discomfort.

"No need for you to know!" Harry yelled. "And for your information, we were _not_ alone. Lee was there," he growled.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Well, that won't do. We'll have to find a way to get rid of her…"

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Somewhere else in the castle, Fei Lee sneezed. She had a bad feeling all of a sudden…

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Somewhere _else_ in the castle, Mrs. Norris was walking around, minding her own business, when all of a sudden, she suddenly felt a distinct lack of solid ground beneath her feet. Letting out an annoyed feline cry, she twisted her body, managing as usual to land feet first. Hissing in irritation, she looked up, expecting to find one of the castle's brats had blasted a hole in the floor and ceiling and covered it up with something just to annoy her and Filch.

There was no hole…

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Harry somehow managed to avoid having the Dark Lady Hermione mess with his non-existent love-life (crush-life?), although how long that state of affairs was likely to remain that way, he had no idea. Hermione could be very stubborn when she wanted to- which was a lot of the time- and he really didn't think Jiraiya-esque interference was what he needed now- or ever, for that matter.

Pulling out one of his sheets of paper, he began to write as he sat down for lunch, grabbing at dishes one-handed. He'd just gotten a really good idea for a scene in one of his fics, and he was thumb-nailing it so that he wouldn't forget.

He was so absorbed writing and eating, he wasn't really aware of what people were saying around him…

His head snapped up as he caught the thread finally. "What did you say?"

Seamus looked at him. "I said that Peeves somehow managed to-"

"No, before that," Harry said, cutting him off.

"Oh, some Ravenclaw girl broke her leg because she wasn't watching where she was going."

All the blood drained from Harry's face. Quickly stuffing his notes into his bag, he took off running like the hordes of the underworld were after him, and each and every single one a clone of Snape.

"Whoa," Neville said. "That's the first time I've seen Harry not finish his food."

If Hermione were an anime character, she would have sweatdropped.

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Harry burst into the hospital wing, scanning the beds for the person he was looking for. Locking on to her, he quickly ran to her side. "Winter! Are you alright?"

"Mr. Potter! No running in the hospital wing!" Madame Pomfrey said.

Harry had the decency to look embarrassed, but his gaze never wavered from Winter, who was lying back in one of the hospital wing's beds with her leg in a cast.

"Harry!" Winter said in delight, or at least Harry would like to think so. "What are you doing here? Isn't it lunch time in the Great Hall?"

"Yeah, but I heard you were here so I got worried and came to see you. Are you alright?" Harry finished, finally getting his mouth to shut up.

Winter sighed, a wan smile coming to her face. "Mostly. Looks like you were right. I finally _did_ get into an accident," she said, gesturing towards her leg. Then she perked up. "Hey! You can be the first one to sign my cast!"

Harry resisted the urge to stare at the mood swing. Instead, he smiled. "Well, it looks like you're doing okay. What happened?"

At this, Winter looked embarrassed, bowing her head down and scratching the back of her head. "Eh he heh, well, I was walking down a hall and I was reading this really nice fic- not one of yours, don't worry- and it was getting to this really good part, and I took a step, only there was nothing to step on, and I fell and when I came too, I was at he bottom of a staircase with a splitting headache and a broken leg, and it _really_ hurt, and I was lucky I didn't break my neck or anything, and-"

"Take a breath, Moon," a voice behind Harry said. He turned quickly, and found himself face to face with Lee.

The girl gave him her usual crimson semi-glare for whenever Winter was in the general area, before seeming to dismiss him with a shake of her hair. Instead, she turned her gaze towards Winter. "How are you feeling?" she asked her, and despite her usual peremptory tone, there was a definite undertone of concern.

As Harry tried to reconcile that with his world-view– a _concerned_ Slytherin?– Winter smiled widely. "I'm fine! Hey, you want to sign my cast too? They'll take it off by tomorrow, but I always wanted to have a cast to sign."

Harry convinced himself it was just a trick of the light when he thought he saw Lee smile ever-so-slightly. "Sure. Why not?"

Lee reached into the bag that hung over her shoulder, and drew out a green marker pen. As Harry raised an eyebrow- what was a Slytherin doing with an obviously Muggle object?- Lee wrote a quick message telling Winter to get well soon, signing it with a Konoha swirling leaf. Not to be outdone, Harry pulled a red marker from his bag and also wrote down a 'get well soon' message on the cast, drawing a Sharingan as an afterthought.

"Why do you still have a cast, anyway?" he asked, curious that Winter wasn't back on her feet yet. "Should you have your bones mended already?"

Winter shrugged. "Well, like I said, I got knocked out, so they're keeping me here overnight for observation. They'll fix my leg tomorrow. In the mean time, it ensures that I can sneak off."

The three talked, Harry and Lee managing as usual to keep their mutual antagonism in check as they chatted with each other. If one didn't know better- like Winter didn't- you'd actually think the two of them were friends.

When the bell signaling the start of afternoon classes started, Harry, despite wanting to stick around Winter a little longer, beat a hasty retreat. He did _not_ want to have to deal with Lee alone right them. For one, there were no witnesses to see him embarrass her, and secondly, he had other things to worry about…

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Fei's eyes narrowed as she looked first one way, then the other, before she finally straightened up from her crouched position. This was the hallway where Winter said she'd been walking, and it only added to the Slytherin girl's suspicions. There was no way Winter could have ended up where she was found if she'd been walking here.

After all, the place she'd ended up was two floors down…

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As soon as class was finished, Harry was out the door. By now, Ron and Hermione had heard about Winter's condition, and merely exchanged knowing smiles, sure their friend was going to exploit this opportunity to try and get closer to his crush. They had no way of knowing the real reason for Harry's hurry, although it was pretty close.

"Kero," Harry said as he arrived at the dormitory out of breath, "Is there a Clow Card that can let people pass through solid objects?"

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Fei watched as Sweet and Little flew off towards the Hospital Wing. Although they weren't really useful unless Fei happened to have a chocolate craving, or wanted to do her own rendition of 'Honey, I Shrunk The Kids', they were the physically smallest of the Clow Sprites she had under her command. As such, she used them as spies and for surveillance. Thanks to them, she now knew the passwords to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Gryffindor was still a bit of a problem, as the crazy Sir Cadogan liked to change the password regularly, sometimes several times in the same day, but she'd find out eventually.

Right now, she'd sent them to keep a watch on Winter. If anything else happened to her, she wanted to be the first to know…

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Harry crept through the school as silently as he could, once more alone. He'd insisted that Kero stay at the dorm that night, ostensibly because he was afraid the little Guardian would make noise and give them away. And he was. But there was another reason.

A Clow Card had hurt Winter! Granted, not directly, but it was still responsible for how she had fallen. He'd known the hallway she said she'd been walking before she fell, and he knew there was no way she could have ended up at the bottom of that particular flight of stairs unless she'd tripped and ended up moving like a bowling ball.

The Through Card. That was what he was looking for. Squaring his shoulders, he prepared to walk all night looking for it.

It never occurred to him to wonder how he was going to find a single Card, who would not be manifesting as a sprite, in a castle the size of Hogwarts…

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A long, long while later, Harry decided to take a rest, leaning back against a wall. He wasn't sure _where_ he was right then, only that The Through Card wasn't around close-by. His brilliant strategy for looking for the Card was to walk around until he felt it. So far, it wasn't working.

Munching on a cupcake he'd snitched from dinner to keep himself awake, Harry was about to start looking again when his senses alerted him to something close. He frowned. "Lee?"

There was a pause, and suddenly, Lee's head appeared in midair, looking around. Belatedly, Harry realized he was still completely invisible. He pulled off the hood of his own cloak.

"Potter," Lee said, her voice dripping with her usual dislike.

Harry was too tired to beat around the bush. "You're looking for it too, I presume?"

Lee smiled crookedly. "The Clow Card? Yes."

"I don't suppose you happen to have anything to make looking for it easier?" he asked rhetorically.

"If I had a name, maybe," Lee said, surprising Harry.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Lee glared at him for doubting her word.

Harry debated for all of three tenths of a second. "It's The Through Card. At least, all the information points to it."

Lee regarded him for a long moment, before pulling something out from under her cloak. She muttered a couple of things under her breath, then started walking. A few feet away from Harry, she paused. "Well? What are you standing around for? You want to know where this Card is or not?"

Harry blinked in surprise, but moved away from the wall and started trailing behind Lee. "Seriously? You know where it is?"

"No, I enjoy giving midnight tours of the school for fun," she said sarcastically. "I'm not waiting for you twice. Get moving!"

Harry quickened his pace until he was walking slightly behind Lee. Glancing over her shoulder, he looked at what she was looking at. "What's that?"

"My Rashin Board. Be quiet unless you want us to get caught."

Harry bristled, but lowered his voice. "Why are you helping me? I know we have a truce, but it doesn't say anything about this?"

"Why are you helping _me_?" she retorted just as quietly. "I told you all I needed was the name of the Card and then I'd probably be able to find it, and you just told me, right out of the blue, without knowing if I'd let you in on anything."

Harry blinked. He hadn't thought of that. From her smirk, he figured Lee knew he hadn't.

"That still doesn't explain why you're helping me," he muttered.

He heard her sniff. "I'm _not_ helping you. I'm helping myself. It'll be easier to Capture this thing if I didn't have to run looking for you when I need to have it Sealed."

"What makes you think _you're_ getting it?" Harry growled.

She looked at him sideways. "Is that a challenge?" she said in a strange tone. "Good. As much as I've been enjoying the easy time I've been having, it's been getting boring. Besides, it's not an accomplishment if you don't work for it."

Harry glared at her, but could not form a response. In silence, they walked on, following the direction of Lee's board, looking, to any outside observer, like a pair of disembodied heads floating around.

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Silence was still a consideration as Harry and Lee ran pell-mell down yet another shadowy corridor, this time following not Lee's Board but the feeling each picked up that screamed "Clow Card!"

"You wouldn't happen to have a plan to catch this thing, would you?" Harry panted.

"Why are you asking me?" Lee said.

"You're the know-it-all!"

"I think you have me confused with your friend Granger."

They rounded a corner, both silently grateful that The Through Card wasn't being overly difficult, like going through walls and stuff. In fact, it was almost as if it were toying with them. That _would_ explain the laughter-like sounds they kept hearing.

Harry ran through his list of Cards as he dashed. Windy, Earthy, Wood and Shadow were useless for binding, since Through didn't have a physical body _to_ bind. Flower was useless as usual (come to think of it, what _would_ Flower be useful for?), Jump and Dash would be able to stop it, and the same goes for Dark, Light, Thunder, Sword and Mirror. Float, Rain and Erase? Useless. Shot would just go through anything he aimed at. That only left…

His brow furrowed. Was it possible? When he used Time, time stopped, and things other than himself- and Kero- would become suspended in a kind of yellow 'pause' state. Still, would the Time Card be able to pause Through?

Deciding he might as well find out, Harry pulled out the Card. "TIME CARD!"

Things turned yellow around Harry, and he frowned as he felt The Through Card still moving.

"Doesn't look like it's working," Lee said dryly.

"Unfortunately," Harry said as he felt The Through Card moving around the time-frozen form of Filch. He waited a moment– as in, four corridors– before deactivating time.

Lee blinked as she looked at him putting away Time. "Wait!" she said, pulling out a _kunai_ from out of seemingly nowhere. "I have an idea! When I tell you to, use Time!"

Not waiting for an answer, she put on a burst of speed as they turned into another straight corridor. Another burst of speed, and she launched herself in the air, stabbing her _kunai_ downward. The tip passed _into_ the floor, and Lee yelled "Now!"

The world turned yellow again as Lee landed. One foot slipped _into_ the floor before she managed to pull herself out. The now-yellow _kunai_ was stuck partway into the floor.

Harry blinked as he drew closer to where Lee was standing with a triumphant smile on her face. "What the-"

"It can't pass though time-frozen objects," Lee said as she dusted herself off. "I noticed it when it went _around_ Filch instead of _through_ him."

Harry felt like kicking himself.

With a sigh, he held the Sealing Wand before him with both hands and raised it above his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form. THROUGH CARD!"

What looked like a pool of energy next to Lee started to glow, and streamers of magic began to rise up. The Slytherin girl grasped her time-frozen _kunai_, managing to pull it out before it became permanently stuck to the floor as Through's effects disappeared. For a moment, there was an image of a woman wearing a long, flowing skirt and a tight top with over-sized, long sleeves. A large blue stone rested on her forehead, and her long hair was tied in a pretzel-like knot on top of her head, before ending in a long tail. The image lasted for a moment, before dissolving again into a Card under Harry's Sealing Wand.

As the Card solidified, Harry reached his hand towards it, but it drifted away towards Lee, who plucked it out of the air with a surprised expression on her face.

Harry took the bitterness he felt welling up inside of him and stomped on it with spiked combat boots. "Congratulations, Lee," he said, letting only the smallest bit of bitterness and sarcasm leak through. "Looks like you get _another_ Card."

Lee stared at the Card she held in her hand for a moment. To Harry's surprise, she flicked her wrist, sending the Card flying through the air in Harry's direction. Hastily, Harry caught.

"Take it," Lee said in a dismissive tone. "It was your idea that got it. My gift to you. Something for getting out of your funk."

Harry blinked owlishly as Lee started walking away, then paused. "Are you coming? I don't know about you, but I don't want to be around here when you unfreeze time. Filch probably heard me."

Harry started trailing behind Lee. After making sure they were far enough away that Filch wouldn't be able to catch them, Lee turned towards him. "This is where we split up. _Try_ not to get caught."

Harry almost bristled at her tone, but somehow his heart wasn't into it. "You too," he found himself saying.

Lee turned away.

"Lee," Harry suddenly said, moving towards her.

The girl turned, frowning. The words 'thank you' were on the tip of Harry's tongue when he suddenly tripped on something invisible. In all the confusion, he'd forgotten they were still wearing their Invisibility Cloaks with the hoods down.

He felt himself knocking into an invisible body- Lee's, he realized. The two of them fell to the ground, the impact mostly absorbed when Harry threw out his hands to either side to catch his fall. His hands slipped, causing his elbows to bend and making him fall on top of Lee.

Harry watched, as if in slow motion, their faces drawing closer…

All of a sudden, something wet and warm met his lips…

Harry froze for about two seconds. Beneath him, he felt Lee stiffen as well.

Shakily, Harry pushed himself up and off. "Lee…" he said hesitantly, an apology on his lips…

The next thing he knew, Lee hit him with a right hook, before using both legs to kick him off of her. "Pervert!"

Getting up in a huff, Lee spun on her heel and stalked off, her nose in the air, as Harry tried to catch his breath, his head ringing. The Time freeze collapsed as he gingerly raised a hand to his aching face. That was probably going to leave a mark.

Wearily, he got up, and trudged towards the Gryffindor common room…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: That probably wasn't what you were thinking, **damon blade**… -_grins_-

For those having nightmares, relax. I'm only loading up Fei's arsenal. It wouldn't do for the hero _not_ to have a challenge, right? Besides, you'll notice most of her Cards aren't exactly what you'd call battle-ready.

I originally wanted to write an episode that would be kind of like, "Severus Snape, singing sensation" –_breaks down into incoherent laughter_- man, that title still cracks me up, but I couldn't think of any way to do it yet. But don't worry, it'll happen somehow…

I'm fairly sure that thing Syaoran has is called a Rashin Board…fairly…

As to why Fei didn't have it before, well, she left it at home, and because it was a family heirloom, her family didn't dare send it by post. So Wei gave it to her personally last Hogsmeade weekend.

Things with Clow Reed's magic aren't affected by The Time Card, as demonstrated all those times Syaoran used it and Sakura and Kero were still able to move. However, I edited the effect slightly. After all, there is no indicator in the series or the movies it _can't_ be done.

Special thanks to: **Chelsea, LostGryffindorFoundSlytherin, damon blade, kwangmablade, Goggles195, Tombadgerlock, Darklight, dark672, AzureSky123, Ran Hoshino, Korrd,** and **BadDreams**.

Please review, C&C welcome. I also like CCS, MKR, RAVE, R1/2, AMG, HP/HG/GW, etc.

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Epilogue 

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"Harry, what happened to your face?" Hermione said.

"I fell in the shower," Harry said dully.

"But-"

"I'd _really_ rather not talk about it, 'Mione."

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Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	16. Fires Of Winter

A/N: In case any of you got any ideas, the ending of last chap was a gag. You know, kind of like the time Sasuke and Naruto accidentally kissed? _That_ kind of gag!

This is set during… ah, you guys can probably figure it out.

This is my (early) Christmas Episode and present to you guys. If you want to send gifts back, just give it a long review. You have no idea how much those warm my heart…

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 16, The Mist: Fires of Winter...

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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Harry Potter wasn't a naturally murderous person. Yet it is likely even the most timid individual would become enraged if they found out that their parents' murderer was their parents' own best friend. Throw in the fact said murderer was supposed to be after you as well, and one tended to loose ones better judgment.

Throw in the fact you happen to have access to power that was probably enough to do a modern retake of what happened to Atlantis, and one is likely to lose one's sense temporarily.

It was very lucky that Harry, Ron and Hermione visited Hagrid the day after Harry found out about Black, else he might have done something insane. Harry, not Hagrid. Harry had been seriously considering using the Clow Cards to hunt down and kill Black, something to which Keroberos was vehemently opposed. However, the need to help a friend overwrote Harry's slightly murderous state of mind, knocking sense into him in the way only a fundamentally good person can have sense knocked into…

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Harry was awoken on Christmas morning by Keroberos shaking him gently.

"Harry," the Sun Guardian whispered gently. "Wake up…"

Grumbling, Harry pulled himself out from under his blanket. "What?"

"Merry Christmas!" Kero said. "Come on and follow me. And bring the Clow Book."

"Can't it wait 'til later, Kero?" Harry mumbled.

"Not unless you want people to know you're the Card Captor," Kero said slyly.

Grumbling, Harry threw off his covers, rubbing sleep gunk out of his eyes. The sun was still below the horizon, and a look out his window told him dawn wouldn't be coming for a while. Stifling a yawn and thankful any noise he'd make wouldn't be heard over Ron's snores, Harry reached for his glasses, pulling the Clow Book out from under his pillow. Silently, he padded down the stairs, careful lest they creak.

Kero led Harry into the common room and out the portrait hole. Harry was thankful he'd thought to put on footwear. After a while, Kero entered an empty classroom.

"All right, what is this about?" Harry asked as he closed the door behind them.

Keroberos grinned. Somehow. "There are a few people who want to wish a Merry Christmas."

Plucking the Clow Book out of Harry's hands, he held it out to him. "Well? What are you waiting for? They really want to talk to you."

Harry's eyes widened as he realized what Kero was talking about. Reaching towards his neck, he plucked out the Clow Key and held it before him.

"Key of Power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it. Release!"

The Key rose from his hand, floating in midair in front of him. the symbol of Clow Reed appeared beneath his feet, turning slowly as wisps of magic surrounded the Key. It lengthened, growing wider and turning into a wand that had a head reminiscent of a beak.

Grabbing the Wand in midair, Harry twirled it a couple of times, reveling in the feel of it.

Kero, meanwhile, had opened the Clow Book. "Here," he said, handing him the whole deck of Cards.

Harry blinked as he took them in his hands. "All of them? Do I have enough power for that? I mean, I get tired calling them up three in a row. "

Kero waved his hand- paw?- dismissively. "That was months ago. You're a lot stronger now. Besides, you won't be summoning them the regular way, at full power and all that. No, you'll be using what Clow used to call 'party mode'."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

Kero grinned, and told Harry what to do. Smirking, Harry raised the Wand above his head.

"Mass Release!"

A sense of power filled Harry. It built up inside, like a balloon slowly filling up, like a song rising. A phoenix flying towards the skies, the sense of power grew stronger and stronger, until, finally, it burst out of Harry, streaming towards the eighteen Cards Harry had tossed into the air a moment before. Each Card turned bright, glowing with magic and power as their outlines became blurred, stretching and molding, some into recognizable humanoid forms.

Windy appeared pure yellow, her two long tails of hair trailing behind her, her form disturbingly nude, without the features of a naked body, but also nothing to imply she was wearing anything. Her two vaguely insectile, leaf-like wings spread from her shoulders as she stretched, hovering above the ground, her indistinct, genie-esque tail grazing the floor

Shadow's magic turned black as it stretched, resolving into a tall, hooded shape. Although it's robes were purest black, darker than midnight, the area beneath its hood and through the frontal opening of its robe was much darker, enough to make what it wore seem white. It settled on the floor, the edges of it's wear seemingly fragile as dark mist.

All around Harry, the Clow Cards appeared in their sprite forms. The Rain looked like a little girl in an Arabian-styled jester's outfit, her two-tailed fools cap decorated with silver raindrops hanging along it's edges. Silver raindrops also hung from the tips of her burst-shaped collar. A blue raindrop-shaped stone rested on her forehead, and she wore big, puffy sleeves, baggy pants, and slippers with curling toes. Sword was just that, a sword that stood upright, surrounded by chains. Float, for some reason, looked like a hot-air balloon. Erase wore a more formfitting jester's outfit, her fools cap and the main body of her tight dress done in a black-and-white, kite-diamond-checkered pattern, a red stone resting at her collarbone, beneath a ruffled collar, a black kite-shaped tattoo decorating the spot beneath her left eye.

At the last, a gigantic mirror appeared in front of Harry, and in place of his reflection stood a girl. The girl smiled, stepping towards him eagerly, and passed through the surface of the mirror, becoming a copy of him in the process. Enthusiastically, Mirror jumped him and enfolded him in a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Master Harry!" she said cheerily in a definitely feminine version of his voice as she shook from side to side, causing the two of them to move that way.

That opened the floodgates. Harry was suddenly besieged on all sides by enthusiastic Clow Card sprites. Harry saw Mirror grin widely, giving him a quick kiss on the lips without her usual theatrics, before backing away. She was immediately replaced by Windy, who giggled as she stuck her tongue in his mouth, then by Flower, who rained kisses on his face. Shadow, Time, Sword, Float, Shot, and Thunder stood to the side, watching in amusement as their female 'siblings' besieged their master.

After Through had planted a chaste kiss on Harry's forehead (and coincidentally nearly forcing his face into her chest), Erase had thoroughly kissed Harry's neck, Rain had hung around said neck while trying to suck his brains out (seriously disturbing to be kissed like that by a being that looked like a little kid) and Kero had laughed himself nearly to death, all the Clow Cards had stepped back, and Mirror took center stage. She looked a trifle self-conscious, as if not sure what she should be doing, but the other Cards egged her on silently, grinning and nodding and shooing her forward. Clearing her throat, she smiled and faced Harry, who was a little out of it, as he hadn't been gang0kissed liked that in quite a while, and had forgotten how overwhelming it could be.

"Ahem, Master Harry, as it's Christmas and all, we'd like to give you a gift," Mirror said.

Harry blinked. "Gift?" he said, panicking slightly. He hadn't thought to get them anything!

Apparently, however, Mirror guessed what was in his head. "Oh, you don't need to bother getting us anything, Master," she said, then grinned mischievously. "Besides, it's gift enough you let us out and…" she paused bringing her fingers to her mouth suggestively, as Keroberos snickered and Harry blushed crimson again.

"Anyway," she continued, blushing slightly herself, ""we'd like to request you let us out for today so we can get you an adequate gift."

Harry started feeling a _tad_ uncomfortable. "That's not really necessary-" he began.

"But we insist!" Mirror said, to much nodding of the other Clow sprites, and it's pretty hard for a sword to nod, but Sword managed it. "Please? You've been _such_ a good master to us, and we really want to show you how much we love you, and-"

If anything, Harry went redder at the L word, raising his hand to stall Mirror. "Okay, you guys can take the day off!" he said. "My gift to you. Just, please, don't let yourselves be seen, okay?"

Mirror squealed in happiness, hugging Harry. "Don't worry, we won't," she said.

Not knowing what else to do, Harry nodded, and turned to leave the room.

"Hey, get me something to eat, will ya!" Kero yelled.

"Yeah, sure!" Harry said, closing the door behind him cutting off a rising wave of talk.

----------------------------------------

Fei yawned, stretching, before lying back on her bed with a contented look on her face. All was right with the world. She had the House practically to herself. True, there was another person left, a fifth year, but he wasn't going to bother her, and she had no intention of bothering _him_, so that was that.

After a few minutes of bumming around, she sighed and laboriously pulled herself off the mattress. Her sister had suggested she come home for the holidays, but she'd refused, stating that she didn't want to miss out in case a Clow Card showed up. Her aunt and cousin had both agreed with her reasoning, although the latter wished she'd gone home to them anyway.

Eyeing the pile of presents at the foot of her bed, she was very tempted to just rip them open and make a huge mess, just like she used to when she was younger and like her sister still did, but she restrained herself, instead opting for a quick shower. A very quick shower. She might not be as excitable as her sister in public, but now she was all alone in the dorm, all inhibitions go out the window!

When she'd redressed, she sat down on the carpeted floor and began to go through her presents.

Opening her sister's gift, her eyes went wide, before a wide grin spread across her face and she started bouncing around the room, squealing with joy and clutching the half-opened package to her chest gleefully. She'd been afraid she'd have to wait until the summer holidays before she could have it, but her sister, bless her, her sweet twin sister had sent it to her, even though the last time they'd talked about it had been a year ago!

Restraining the urge to just open it and start reading on the spot, food, other presents and the Clow Cards be damned, she gently put down the hardcover copy of **_Knife of Dreams _**on her bed, and looked for something else to open. Grabbing her cousin's gift, she looked at the much smaller box slightly in disappointment, before shrugging and opening it with as much fervor as before. Inside was a plain white box, which her touch and senses told her had been subtly enchanted. She paused another moment, before opening the box. A black leather case fell out. Opening it, she grinned. Inside was what was informally known as a Swiss Auror Knife. It was much like Muggle Swiss Army Knives, except it had magic features as well. This looked like one of the over-featured models, again similar to the Muggle versions. After opening it a couple of times, she determined it had the functions of a Put-Outer, knife, Omniscope (similar to Omnioculars), can opener, blowtorch, corkscrew, microscope, screwdriver, GPS map, pliers, the standard undo-any-knot-open-any-door features, hammer, and grappling hook. Also in the case was a ruler that also had compass, thermometer and poison-tester features.

After a quick happy dance, Fei set the knife aside to keep herself from using it's features on anything she could get her hands on. Her cousin really knew her.

Her aunt had sent her, to her surprise, a box containing the latest volumes of the manga she'd been following, as well as American comic books, a hardbound sheaf of papers that she saw contained printouts of the fanfics she'd been following, and various sweets, chocolates and preserved fruits. This time she was careful to put the box on the bed before doing a happy dance.

When she reached the bottom of her pile, she blinked. There was a small box she hadn't been expecting. Picking it up, she looked at the card and immediately flushed red. It was from Winter.

Reverently, she read the card, which contained a short greeting, before she hesitantly opened the packaging, carefully pealing back the tape to keep from ripping the paper. Inside was a small box. Opening it, her eyes widened.

It was a locket pendant, with an imprint of a Sharingan on one side and a curse seal on the other. She opened it, and didn't know whether to smile or frown. Each half of the pendant held a picture, which was the source of her indecision. One side was a smiling, Muggle picture of Winter. And on the other side was a picture of Potter. Written on the upper edges of both haves and continuing into each other were the words "Harry, Fei and Winter: Friends Forever."

After a moment, she closed the locket with a snap. Oh well, it was still a present from Winter…

----------------------------------------

Harry, too, had received such a pendant from Winter, and although his reaction was just as mixed, the end result was also the same: it was a gift from Winter.

When Harry, Ron and Hermione went downstairs for lunch, Harry had felt the Clow Cards had gone from the room he'd left them in. Taking a moment to wonder where they were and hope they weren't getting into trouble, Harry put them out of his mind.

When they opened the door to the Great Hall, there was an excited squeal, and silver suddenly filled Harry's vision, and strawberries filled his nose. A warmth suddenly enfolded Harry, and he heard his blood pounding in his ears.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, HARRY!" Winter said, kissing him on both cheeks in rapid succession. Harry tried valiantly not to turn red, and mostly succeeded. He could tell that Ron and Hermione were snickering. He suddenly realized that nearly the whole current population of Hogwarts- that is, the Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout and Flitwick, Filch, two first years and a fifth year- were watching them. The Slytherin fifth-year was smirking, while the two firsts were blushing or disgusted at the public display of affection, it was hard to tell which.

Winter was still clamped on to his neck, and looked willing to stay there for a while- Harry didn't mind _too_ much- when a voice behind them said, "Move, you're blocking traffic. And get a room you two, there are children watching."

A squeal exploded in Harry's left ear, causing him to lose his hearing in that organ temporarily as Winter unlatched herself and ran around him. Dazed, his sense of balance tampered with, Harry almost fell if Ron hadn't caught him.

Lee, meanwhile, was also getting the Winter treatment as she was tackled around the neck. She stiffened as Winter kissed her as well, turning red. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, LEE!"

When Winter finally let go of Lee, who was pretty red- from embarrassment or anger, it was assumed- she cheerfully dragged her and Harry, with Ron and Hermione- still smirking- trailing behind, over to the single table that had been set up. Somehow, Harry ended up sitting on one side of Winter, with Lee sitting in the other. Ron and Hermione were sitting beside him, trying to adapt innocent looks.

"Crackers!" said Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering one to Snape, which promptly turned into a witch's hat with a stuffed vulture. Those who remembered the Boggart grinned.

"Tuck in!" Dumbledore said after he'd exchanged the hat for his usual one.

After Professor Trelawney arrived, looking like an overgrown dragonfly in her green dress, things proceeded normally.

For the sake of the girl sitting between them, Harry and Lee _somehow _managed to converse politely, much to the astonishment of those around them, with the sole exception of Winter, who still didn't get it. Granted, they only talked in response to Winter's questions, but better than nothing.

Almost two hours later, Harry suddenly found himself walking out to the Entrance Hall with the two girls. Ron had excused himself, a mischievous smile on his face as he'd wished Harry a merry Christmas, citing in passing that there were a lot of mistletoe around. Hermione had stayed to talk to Professor McGonagall about something or other, but she'd had the same look on her face as well. The others all looked like they were wondering when the explosion would happen. Harry hated to have to disappoint them.

Winter apparently didn't want to have to go back to her dorm since she was the only one there, and Harry and Lee really couldn't bring her to their respective common rooms, so they pretty much just bummed around the castle, Winter talking up a storm and Harry and Lee tagging along in her wake…

----------------------------------------

Somewhere in the castle, a sprig of mistletoe suddenly burst into flames…

----------------------------------------

"Hey, look!" Winter said, pointing right above Harry and Lee. "Mistletoe!"

Harry and Lee jumped apart as if told the other was a soulsucking monster that could kill with a touch, both looking upwards, panicked. There was nothing there.

Winter, meanwhile, was cracking up, wiping tears from her eyes as the two leveled halfhearted glares at her. "Oh, you guys are so easy!"

Fei sighed, shaking her head. What was with this girl? "Moon, if you keep doing things like that, you'll be out of friends in no time," she said, annoyed.

She'd meant it as a joke, but the effect on Winter was startling. The girl stiffened, and a wide-eyed look came over her, as if she'd been told she only had fifteen seconds to live. She began to shake. "Oh. I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"

Fei blinked, unconsciously exchanging looks with Potter, who shrugged helplessly. "Moon? Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah!" she said, a little louder than was believable. "I'm fine! This is nothing!"

The two exchanged glances again as Winter wiped her face one last time with a lot more vigor than strictly necessary, moving a little ways off from them.

Finally, hesitantly, Harry said, "Winter? Winter, Lee didn't mean it like that." Delicately, he placed a hand on her shoulder and felt tremors travel through his hand.

"Yeah, Moon," Lee said, moving closer, and unconsciously standing side to side with Harry. "It was just a joke. Just that. A joke."

Winter trembled again. Suddenly, without warning, she wrapped her arms around the both of them, shaking silently as tears flowed slowly down her eyes. The now completely out of their depth, the two could only pat her on the back as she held them close. Finally, after a while, the shaking slowed, then stopped.

"I'm sorry," they heard her say, her words muffled by the fact her face was buried in their shoulders.

"Sorry for what?" Harry said quietly as he gently stroked her hair.

"For doing things like that," Winter answered, shaking again for a moment, before subsiding.

"Moon, it's alright," Fei said. "It was just a joke. We won't stop being your friends because of a little thing like that."

Winter finally pulled her face off their shoulders, her eyes glistening as she regarded them, reminding Harry of a child who wanted to know the boogey man wouldn't _really_ come for her if she was naughty. "You won't?"

"Of course not," Harry said. "If friends broke up because of little things like that, Ron and Hermione wouldn't have anything to do with each other. And I can't imagine anyone, me especially, not being friends with you."

"Although could you kind of cut down on doing things like that?" Fei said. "I gets pretty repetitive after a while. I'd hate to think my friend doesn't have any originality."

"Same here," Harry said, and finally, Winter giggled, muttering something that sounded like 'thanks guys' into their shoulders.

For a long moment, the three of them just stood there, neither Harry or Fei caring that their persons were in physical contact, thinking only of the little girl between them that they both realized must be very lonely sometimes. It made them question how much they really knew about her.

Finally, Winter pulled her head from their shoulders one last time, smiling wanly at them. "Thanks guys."

Harry smiled. "No problem. What are friends for?"

Winter chuckled at that. "Hey, look," she said, pointing up. "Mistletoe."

The other two looked up. Yup, it was mistletoe, alright.

"Hmmm…" Harry said.

"Hmmm…" Fei echoed.

"This puts us in a very interesting dilemma," Winter commented as they just stood there. "There are three of us. Who kisses who?"

At this, the other two stiffened, blushing as the implications of Winter's statement sank in. "Um…"

Winter giggled, starting to sound like her usual self. "Tell you guys what. There are three ways to go. Let's just do all of them."

At this, the two blushed even more.

Winter's giggle got worse. She turned to Fei, smiling widely, a mischievous light dancing in her eye. "Ladies first…"

Fei didn't have time to protest- not that she _would_ have- before she was suddenly lip to lip with a silver-haired Ravenclaw. Her eyes went wide, before clenching shut and she tilted her head subtly to one side…

Harry was in a very uncomfortable and confusing position most males his age and older would probably kill for. To sum it up, he was currently involved in a three-way hug with two girls, one of which was his crush and the other a not-bad-looking specimen of female puberty (although he'd rather die than admit that), watching from a scant twelve inches as the two said girls kissed, knowing fully well he was next…

Yup, he was currently uncomfortable. Although an older person would likely say it was in a good way.

Harry currently lacked the experience to make that distinction. Good for him.

When Winter finally pulled herself off of Fei, both Harry and the Slytherin girl were beet red, for very similar reasons. Both could vaguely tell another "We shall never talk about this ever again" brewing or already brewed.

Deep inside him, however, somewhere that rarely saw the light of day, in a place that looked like an excessively damp room where water dripped constantly, behind an enormous iron door with large yellow tape bearing the words "police line, do not cross", enormous warding _ofuda_, and guarded by two enormous buxom amazons with gunblades and whips, something dark stirred. It was a suspicion, born of a formless tickling at the back of his head and given life by the dazed look on Lee's face, a suspicion that was taking a slightly greenish-red hue…

"Your turn…" Winter said mischievously, with none of the breathlessness Lee was currently exhibiting, and the room and its contents were instantly forgotten.

Harry instinctively pulled his head back a teeny-tiny bit (to much protest from the rest of his body, resulting in a riot that got the motor cell doing the operating fired), but Winter would have none of it. It seemed that way, anyway. Her hand wrapped around his neck and grasped the back of his head, holding him in place. Oh, well, he really didn't want to escape any way…

They broke apart a few moments later- or maybe it was several minutes- a week, perhaps- or possibly several dozen years- Harry wasn't really sure. A white fog seemed to envelope his mind, and he really didn't feel like thinking. He head a giggle faintly in the distance, and thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

He didn't register what was said next.

"Okay, now you two kiss…"

----------------------------------------

In a lonely stair landing somewhere in Hogwarts, a bit of carpet started to smolder…

----------------------------------------

Harry woke up from his daze to find himself a corridor or two away from the Gryffindor common room. What happened after the kiss with Winter- and a few things regarding it, he was annoyed to find- were a big blur, although he remembered a feeling of supreme disgust shortly afterwards, followed by a highly perverted bliss and extremely loathing sense of pleasure.

Try as he might, he couldn't get the memory of what happened to the forefront of his mind, although he had a flash of memory involving mistletoe…

"Master Harry?" a voice behind him said timidly, and Harry jumped in surprise, wondering how the heck someone had managed to sneak up on him like that. He must have been in deeper thought than he realized.

Behind him, Mirror started as well, and Harry relaxed, smiling placatingly at the surprised Clow Card girl. "Sorry, Mirror, you kind of surprised me there. What is it?"

Mirror recovered quickly, and broke into a dazzling smile, one that once more made Harry wonder how she managed to do that with his face. She held up a small box beautifully wrapped in what looked like gold-colored foil covered in flame patterns. "Merry Christmas, Master Harry!"

Blinking, Harry took the package from the girl hesitantly, looking at it dumbly for a moment before shifting his gaze towards Mirror. "I-I don't know what to say…"

Mirror smiled. "As long as you're happy, Master Harry, then words aren't necessary," she said, hugging him. Pulling back, she reached into her copy of his robes, pulling out the other Cards. "We all got together and made it, although it was difficult since we weren't at full power. Earthy took the brunt of it, pulling up gold and silver from the ground the way she did."

Harry stared down at the present, realizing it wasn't gold-colored foil, but actually gold.

Harry suddenly felt lips pressing against his own as something was stuffed into an inner pocket of his robes, and he blinked as Mirror moaned at the back of her throat. Drawing back, she nuzzled the side of his neck before kissing him again as she dissolved back into a Card.

Plucking her Card out of the air by instinct, Harry thought to look up. Directly above his head was another sprig of mistletoe. Ron was right: the weeds were everywhere!

Realizing he still held the Cards' present in his hands, Harry began to open it gingerly, undoing the foil so it stayed in one piece and as unwrinkled as possible. Flattening it against the ground, he found himself looking at a beautiful flame carved piece. Turning towards the present itself, he stared in wonder, wondering just how far the Cards had gone to make him a present.

It was a gold and silver box, decorated with small rubies on all sides. A small key-like crank was sticking out the side, indicating it was a music box. Finding a hinge on the top, Harry opened it delicately. The scent of flowers met his nose, a pleasant, heady smell that reminded Harry of a garden. A soft glow emanated from inside, where four crystals- diamonds?- glowed in the corners of the box. In the center was a large, slightly convex, clear crystal. Hesitantly, Harry wound the crank.

A soft voice began to sing, one Harry recognized as The Wood's, and on top of the crystal, a ghostly apparition of her appeared, singing in a voice that brought to mind lush virgin forests untouched by man. The lights on the corners of the box pulsed and shifted, changing color with the tune, hinting of the forests themselves.

When her song finished some time later, a song seemingly without words that spoke of love, appreciation, loyalty, and a host of other things, the ghostly image faded away. Hesitantly, Harry turned the crank again.

This time it was it was Dash whose image appeared, singing a song that was truly wordlessly, yet spoke of steadfastness and wide open fields of dreams. The colors of the lights shifted as well, seeming to show Harry those fields, or at least a glimpse of them.

When the second song ended, Harry hesitantly closed the music box, tears coming to his eyes. He felt as if nothing could spoil his mood as he slowly made his way to the Gryffindor common room…

Unfortunately, something would.

----------------------------------------

In the empty Teacher's Lounge, a flame suddenly appeared in the fireplace…

----------------------------------------

The next day, Harry stalked around Hogwarts in something of a rage. If this sounds a little out of character, well, _you_ would too if one of your friends managed to get one of your best Christmas presents taken away to be stripped down!

To make matters worse, that morning he'd finally been able to recall some of the things that had happened between meeting up with Mirror and kissing Winter (at this, he nearly stumbles, his face going red enough to do a traffic light proud). He'd dry retched in the bathroom, and was very tempted to use _Scourgify_ on his mouth as if that would undo what had happened.

"Potter!"

Speak of the devil…

Composing his features, Harry turned and looked at Lee, who for once wasn't wearing her school uniform. Instead, she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a blue shirt, with a _hitae-ate_ on her forehead. Harry would have gambled a hundred Galleons that there was an Uchiha fan on the back.

"Nice outfit," was all he said.

She raised an eyebrow, and seemed to think a moment before acknowledging his comment with a nod, before grimacing such that it was obvious it was not meant as a response to his statement. "You finally remember what happened yesterday?"

Harry made sure to keep his face _very_ smooth. "Nothing happened yesterday that needs to be discussed. _Ever_."

There was a wry twist in Lee's mouth at that. "Agreed. Nothing happened."

"Absolutely nothing," Harry confirmed.

"Nothing at all."

"I wouldn't know what someone would mean if it came up."

"Because absolutely nothing happened yesterday."

"And it's not possible to discuss something that never happened."

The two nodded to each other, having come to a more-or-less official agreement.

"You realize that's the longest we've spoken civilly to each other without Winter anywhere near us," Harry said.

Lee blinked. "Really? Who would have thought."

There was a vaguely uncomfortable silence. A strange, shaky, unspoken truce seemed to have been declared, and Harry for one didn't want to be the one accused of breaking it. Harry suddenly became very conscious of the weight in his other pocket, the one where he _wasn't_ carrying his Clow Cards. It seemed to burn there, as if reminding him…

"Hey, remember what happened that night after The Through Card?" Harry suddenly blurted out.

At this, Lee's eyes narrow. "What about it?" she said rather testily, and Harry could almost hear the truce starting to crack.

Deciding that as therapeutic as it would be, he really wasn't in the mood for a fight, Harry grit his teeth and decided not to bring it up any more than he already had, knowing it was something of a sore point between the two of them. "I'm sorry for tripping like that and… what happened next. It wasn't intentional. I'd just wanted to say 'thank you' and, well, that wasn't the way I wanted to do it, so I'm sorry."

Hmm, all that and not one choke, growl, look of disgust or insincere tone. Where was his Academy Award?

Lee looked at him strangely, and Harry, although a self-proclaimed expert at what she was usually thinking (she _was_ his nemesis, after all, beating even Snape and Malfoy to the top spot, although if Voldemort ever became an active participant, she'd probably get bumped down to number two), was at a complete lost to interpret her facial expression. Her head being tilted to one side indicated she was studying him, but other than that…

Finally, she spoke. "I'm sorry too. I over-reacted to what was clearly an accident."

Not one choke, growl, look of disgust or insincere tone. Looks like he wasn't the only one who deserved an Academy Award.

Reaching into his pocket, Harry pulled out a box wrapped in plain white paper, tied with a simple red ribbon obviously knotted by a girl, going by the way it looked a bit _too_ artistic. "Here. It's a belated 'thank you' and 'sorry'. Merry Christmas. Fate must be working on overdrive: it'll go with your outfit."

Blinking at this curious statement, Lee's eyes widened as she hesitantly accepted the gift. Truth be told, Harry had asked Winter's help with it, keeping the inquisitive girl in the dark about who it was for, but he didn't think he'd been too successful. The Ravenclaw had had a few too many knowing looks for comfort.

Undoing the ribbon, Lee carefully unwrapped the paper, watching him out of the corner of her eye for tricks. He really couldn't blame her.

Finally, the package was unwrapped, and Lee gingerly opened the box, as if expecting a curse to go off any moment. She stared at the contents, looking alternately between Harry and the gift.

"Are you sure you gave me the right box?" she said, sounding amazed.

Wordlessly, Harry nodded, biting his lip. Vaguely, a part of him whispered this was the first time he'd ever watched a girl open a present he'd given her. Somehow, it sounded like a milestone. Or a mark on his grave.

Lee unfolded the contents of the box, which turned out to be a pair of white, hose-shaped pieces of leather with blue belts at either end, unmistakably similar to the ones a certain Uchiha Sasuke wore. "How did you know I didn't have these?" she said, sounding indifferent, but Harry knew her too well, hearing the slight tremor that gave her away.

"I didn't," he said, "but I guessed it would be something you liked. You were accessories all the time, after all."

Frowning at him lopsidedly, still looking unsure, Lee hesitantly put them on, belting them at the wrist and elbow. He was right: it _did_ go with her outfit. "It's great. Thanks," she said, and left it at that.

Harry shrugged. That had been more than he'd been expecting, really. "You're welcome," and left it at that as well.

The silence that followed was still uncomfortable, but comfortably so. It was the comfort of being in the same room as a dangerous animal, and knowing you wouldn't be attacked just yet.

"That Winter is crazy," Harry suddenly said out of the blue, and was suddenly afraid he'd breached the truce. Where had _that_ come from?

Lee's eyes narrowed for a moment, gauging what he'd said. Apparently, it was passable. "Moon's Moon," Lee said casually, as if that explained it. And to a certain degree, it did. "Besides, she has good ideas sometimes," she added, a strangely wistful look on her face.

The formless tickling at the back of his head came back, and somehow made it out of his mouth. "Lee, do you like Winter?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as the animal bared it's fangs and licked it's teeth…

----------------------------------------

In an empty corridor, empty even of paintings, a flame began to burn in the center of the stone floor. The flame began to grow, spreading across the width of the passage…

----------------------------------------

Harry and Lee's heads snapped towards the same direction at the same instant, and Harry was never more glad for a Clow Card appearance. He was running before he knew it, Lee at his heels. His hand reached up to his neck as he released his wand.

The two passed a corridor, ran to the end of the hall and turned, and were instantly confronted by an inferno.

The entire corridor seemed to be on fire, the flames roaring like a living thing as it seemed to burn from out of nothing, spreading out to carpet the floor, causing the walls and ceiling to go black with soot. In the center of this conflagration stood what was obviously the Clow Card responsible. It was apparently naked, with orange-reddish skin with long, pointed ears. It had air like fire and wings that were flame itself. Like Windy, it didn't seem to have legs, merely more flame. Harry didn't need to be told who this was. It was obvious. The Firey Card. It looked at them arrogantly, its arms crossed, as if daring them to do anything.

Well, both were always up for a good dare…

"_Expelliarmus!_ " Harry said, casting the bolt of magic at him, but the Clow Card dodged, and the flames grew higher, forcing the two of them back.

"Any more bright ideas, Potter?" Lee said scathingly, and Harry knew the truce was over.

"I could tie him up with wind-" Harry began.

"Do that and you'll just make the flames bigger," Lee interrupted. "Don't you know anything?"

Before he could retort, both felt something their way and dodged in opposite directions as well as they could in the narrow confines of the corridor. Harry was able to dodge his fireball. Lee didn't seem as lucky.

"SHIELD CARD!" he heard her yell.

But it looked like she was fine.

In fact, she looked more than fine. She was looking at the bubble she was in with a calculating look in her eyes. Said eyes darted towards the Clow Card. She started walking towards him, unmindful of the flames. Harry unconsciously held his breath.

She passed through the wall of fire, which parted before her bubble. Harry saw her face break into a feral grin before she ran deeper into the inferno, and Harry's view was blocked as the flames roared higher, forcing him to step back as well.

He dimly heard shouting inside of sea of orange, then there was a cry of "_Stupefy!_" followed by a pained cry, and then "_Aguamenti!_"

There was a loud hissing sound, followed by another cry and suddenly the flames were gone, leaving not even a hint of heat on the floor and walls, although soot remained. In what had been the center of the blaze, Lee was pointing her sword at The Firey Card, keeping him under a constant stream of water. She was still under her shield. Steam surrounded them as she kept the Card under. Said Card still seemed to be suffering from the effects of the Stunner, although he was semi-conscious.

"Filch isn't going to like this mess," Harry commented as he walked towards them.

"His problem," Lee snapped back. "Hurry up and Seal him already, Potter!"

Glaring at her, Harry raised the Sealing Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor and I order you to return to you true form! FIREY CARD!"

It trembled before dissolving into multiple streams of orange magic. Lee's stream of water stopped as the magic converged beneath the head of Harry's wand, turning into a Card.

Harry half-heartedly tried to reach for it, but missed, as he knew he would. The Card was plucked out of the air by Lee, who'd finally let the shield drop.

"I don't suppose you'll let me have that as a late Christmas gift, would you?" Harry said dryly.

Lee arched her eyebrow at him, but replied in the same tone. "In you dreams, Potter. Finders keepers."

Harry sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot."

Lee's lip twisted wryly, and looked about to retort when her eyes suddenly narrowed, her head tilted to one side as if listening. Blinking at the abruptness, Harry listened as well. There was a faint scratching sound, and it seemed to come from…

Extending his senses in that direction, a cold shiver went up and down Harry's spine as he felt a presence. Exchanging shocked looks with Lee, the two rushed back as silently and as quickly as they could to the corner they'd just turned a few minutes ago, Sealing Wand and sword in hand. Coming to it, they rounded the corner quickly and were greeted with a shocked exclamation, followed by a THUD. The two stared in shock at the sight before them.

Lying fallen on her rear around the corner, and suddenly looking like a deer caught in the headlights, a clipboard on the ground next to her and a pen in hand, was Winter.

Winter gulped. "There's a perfectly good explanation for this, I assure you..."

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Ooh! Winter's in trouble...

The return of Mass Release. It makes Clow Cards manifest physical forms, but not at full power, so that Clow, and now Harry, wouldn't be magic drained to death.

I'm a **_Wheel of Time_** fan, and now, so is Fei X3

Not everyone can be as Muggle-ignorant as British Wizards. And I like the features of the knife…

Many thanks to my reviewers! Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties on my end, I can't name you all. Sorry.

Please review, C&C welcome. The more reviews, the better. Please? As a Christmas present for me?

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off. **Merry Christmas**, everyone!


	17. Keeping Secrets

A/N: Alright, here's the end of the cliffhanger...

I've finally managed to destroy the evilly long bout of writer's block inflicted upon me by multiple projects, although the price is my updates on all will be either sporadic or nonexistent.

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Harry stared. Lee stared.

"**_Winter?_**" he exclaimed in surprise.

"**_Moon?_**" Lee said at the same time, no less shocked.

Winter Moon smiled cheekily up at them, grabbing the clipboard and clutching it and the pen to her chest. "Heh he... hey guys! Fancy meeting you here..."

She smiled brightly as the two continued staring at her. She got up, dusting herself off, not noticing the two staring at where she had fallen as she gently pounded the dust off that.

"Winter, what are you doing here…?" Harry said slowly, fear getting a hold of his heart even as possibilities started crowding around his head…

Lee was more direct. "Moon, how did you find us?" she asked forcefully.

Winter's smile turned sheepish. "Well, I guess the secret's out. I saw you two running down the hall and figured you were going after one of those Card things, so I followed you."

"Card things?" Harry repeated, coming to stand behind Lee.

Winter's nodded enthusiastically, raising the clipboard to writing level and putting pen to paper. "Yeah! So, tell me, what was it like fighting The Firey Card? That _is_ what's called, right? Did your heart pound or race? Were your palms sweaty? And what's it like to use that card that lets you fly? Exhilarating? Terrifying?"

Lee and Harry blinked simultaneously, taken aback by the shear enthusiasm.

The words were out of Harry's mouth before he knew it. "Do you sense a weird situation of Gai levels, too?" he whispered to Lee _sotto voce_.

"Yes," was all the Slytherin girl said.

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 17, The Float: Keeping Secrets...

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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Winter pouted at them, trying to look insulted. "Okay, that was low. Come on, all I'm asking for is an interview!"

The two blinked. "Interview?" Harry repeated, his eyebrow twitching.

"Yeah. Now-HEY!" Winter exclaimed as the two grabbed her and quickly hustled her off into the nearest empty classroom. Lee locked the door with some kind of spell, reinforcing the warding with _ofuda_. That done, Winter watched as the two started running around the room, checking for cracks, covering up the windows and generally trying to keep what was happening in the chamber secret from the outside world.

Finally, the two rounded on her. "Winter/Moon, how much do you know?" they chorused.

"Nearly everything," Winter smiled.

The two stared at her, aghast. "Everything?" the said together.

"Jinx!" Winter said, pointing at the two of them. "You both owe me a chocolate frog and a butterbeer!"

"**Moon, can you be serious for one second?**" Lee nearly shouted.

"Awww…" Winter pouted.

Harry tried to get a handle on things. "Winter, _how could you know everything?_ Uh- everything of what? What's to know?" Maybe they could still play dumb and salvage the situation.

Winter smirked. "Nice try, Harry, but that doesn't work in anime, and it certainly isn't going to work in real life! And as to how I know…" Winter's smile became secretive. "_Sore wa himitsu desu_!"

"WINTER/MOON!" they both cried.

Winter laughed. "I'm kidding! Man, you two are so easy…"

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_Winter tried to keep her stuff balanced. It was already pretty dark, and she wanted to be able to get back home soon. No matter what city, it was pretty unsafe for a thirteen year old girl to be wandering around alone after dark. **Especially** for a thirteen year old girl!_

_Sighing, she quickened her step, intending to start rushing and maybe catch the Knight Bus as soon as she was out on the Muggle end of the Leaky Cauldron- she had just enough money, and although she thought she could call it where she was, her habits prevented her. _

"_Hold it right there!" a voice cried from somewhere nearby. _

_Winter blinked. What…? It sounded like it came from around the corner…_

_Walking carefully, in case it was something she didn't want to be involved in, Winter carefully put down her recent purchases and stealthily leaned around the corner. Only one eye was able to look out, but that was enough. _

_A boy stood in an alley, facing off against a dark cloaked figure. From her angle, she couldn't see the boy's face blocked as she was by the cloaked figure. For a moment, Winter wondered if it was one of those Dementors she'd been hearing about after that Sirius Black. She'd seen him on TV and read about him in the snippet of the Daily Prophet she'd found on the ground. _

"_I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form!" the boy said, raising some strange stick over his head and bringing it down. "Shadow Card!"_

_Winter's eyes widened as she saw the cloaked figure began to dissolve into multiple black streaks of magic. The streaks began to be drawn towards a square-ish outline under the end of the stick… staff? Wand? Astonished, she watched as the black wisps all began to be drawn towards the boy. She couldn't see the boy's face because of the glow coming from the symbol beneath his feet…_

_Finally, the glow faded as the magic seemed to resolve completely into a card of some kind. At last she was finally able to get a good look at the boy's face._

_Her first thought was that he was very good looking. Then she gasped. The boy was Harry Potter! _

_Harry seemed to sag, sighing. "Well, that was slightly embarrassing," he said, catching the card as it drifted towards him. He was suddenly tackled by… Winter rubbed her eyes. It looked like a flying plushy!_

"_You did it Harry! You caught the Shadow Card!" the plushy said._

"_Will all those people be alright?" Harry asked. People? What people?_

_The plushy nodded. "Their shadows came back when you caught the Shadow Card. Speaking of which, we better go while there's still nobody around."_

_As they left, Winter leaned back out of sight, hoping they hadn't seen her silver hair. It had an annoying tendency to flash in the dark when light caught it…_

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_Winter sighed to herself, adjusting her grip on her clipboard, with its reams of lined paper. What the heck was she doing here? It wasn't like she'd just magically run into him out of the blue, was she? And if she did, what was she going to say? 'Hi, I saw what you did last night, talking to the plushy, and I was wondering if I could talk to you about it'?_

_Even in her own head, it sounded stupid. _

_Sighing, she was passing an alley when she heard a familiar voice. _

"_Key of power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it!" she heard. Blinking, Winter looked around, spotting the alley in question. There weren't a lot of people around, and those present were either making too much noise to hear or not paying any attention. _

_Pressing herself against the wall, Winter peaked into the alley, watching as Harry did that thing with the wand again. Pressing herself down close to ground so he wouldn't see her, she started scribbling into her pad with her quill- she'd have to get a pen as soon as possible- writing down everything she saw and heard…_

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Harry and Lee listened in shock as Winter recounted how he had Sealed The Time Card, The Thunder Card, The Sword Card, how she'd seen Lee Stun The Sweet Card, how she'd listened in when they'd talked about how Lee should treat her Cards, how she'd watched them with The Fly Card, and how she'd watched them deal with The Firey Card just now.

"- and I was thinking of following only Harry, but when Lee arrived and I was following Harry, I heard the two of you talking, I didn't hear the beginning because I sort of got lost while following Harry, but I heard enough that I figured Lee'd be involved with the Cards too, so I tried keeping tabs on both of you, which was really hard, since I also had a lot of fanfics to read, and-" Winter prattled on.

"STOP!" Harry said, raising his hand in the classic gesture. "We get it, we get it!"

Lee rubbed her temples. "So, you've been following Potter around since you saw him Seal The Shadow Card. That begs the question: why?"

"Glad you asked!" Winter exclaimed, reaching for her clipboard and showing it to them. "I've been writing about you guys, trying to get into your heads when you do what you do. I've got _tons_ of papers and notes like these back in my room- under lock and key, of course," she added as she caught sight of the looks the two directed at her.

Harry and Lee sighed, then winced as-

"JINX!"

Harry sighed. "Look, Winter-" he began.

There was a loud growling sound. Winter had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Oh, man, I'm late for breakfast! Got to go, talk to you later!"

"Wait-!" Lee yelled as she dashed pass.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about the cards and stuff, I promise!" Winter said as she dashed out the door, the door slamming behind her.

The two remaining behind just blinked.

"What just happened?" Harry said.

"We just let someone who knew all about our activities get away," Lee said.

"Are we in trouble?" Harry asked, not seeming to realize who he was talking to.

"In my opinion? No. Moon apparently hasn't told anyone yet, and doesn't seem to intend to, but why she keeps taking notes is beyond me," Lee mused.

"Guess we'll have to ask her," Harry muttered.

"I guess," Lee said.

Suddenly, the door opened again, and a breathless Winter stuck her head in. "Look, I promise I won't tell anyone about anything, just please, let me in on it! It's so frustrating not having enough info for my notes. Please?"

"Uh, sure?" Harry said.

"Great! Well, see you!"

Poof! She was gone.

Harry blinked. "What did I just do?"

Lee shook her head. "On your head, be it," she muttered and walked pass Harry, muttering something under her breath about seeing how Mat and Tuon's love life were doing.

Harry blinked again. "How is this _my_ fault?" he asked an empty room. The room wasn't feeling too conversational.

Grumbling, he decided to head back to the dorm and talk to Kero about this…

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"**_SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS?_**" Kero yelled.

Harry made a show of cleaning his ears. "Can you say that a little louder? I think someone in London didn't hear you."

There was no worry of that, what with the Imperturbable Charm Kero had taught him cast on the door- Ron was out for the moment… somewhere- but it really wasn't good for his ear drums.

"What kind of mess-up did you make that let someone find out?" Kero said in a lower tone and decibel.

"Nothing!" Harry said. "And if there _was_ a mess-up, you're equally at fault. She saw _us_ both when we Sealed The Shadow Card. She's known for that long!"

"**_WHAT!_**"

Harry nodded, cleaning out his ears again. "She promised she'd keep quiet, but she wants to be in on it. And I think it's the best course of action. At least this way, we'd be able to keep an eye on her."

Keroberos smirked at him. "Are you sure that's the only reason?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harry said, turning away. Not because he didn't want Kero to see the look on his face. No, certainly not that! He didn't want to honor that remark by looking Kero in the eye after his insinuation, that's all.

After Kero's snickering and self-satisfied 'If you say so-s' subsided, Harry sighed, leaning back on his headboard. "Do you think I should tell Ron and Hermione? I mean, Lee knows, and Winter's known for a really long time. Ron and Hermione are my best friends. Don't you think I should tell them…?"

Kero frowned, crossing his legs in mid-air and raising his hand up to his 'chin' in his thinking pose. "I… really can't help you with that. I didn't really have a lot of friends. I mean, the only ones I've known are the Cards, Clow and… well, let's just say I don't have much of an active social life. Sorry to say but, you're on your own on this one kid."

Kero sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I shouted at you. I think you did the right thing in trying to keep an eye on Winter, even though I'd rather you didn't have to. What I mean to say is, I trust your judgment. You'll figure it out."

Harry sighed. "The thing is, I don't _want_ to tell Hermione right now. I mean, she had my Firebolt confiscated! She's likely to turn you in! And… I really don't feel to well about her right now, okay?"

"So you don't think it's a good idea to share secrets when there's ill feelings going around?" Kero prompted.

"Yeah, I guess that's close," Harry nodded.

"So why don't you just tell Ron? You two are fine," Kero said.

"I guess, but… they're my best friends, you know? How would Hermione feel if- _when_ she found out I told Ron before her?"

"You'd know," Kero said, but either Harry didn't hear, or he wasn't listening any more.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she never talked to me again!" Harry said. "So…"

"So…?" Kero prompted.

"Maybe it's best I don't tell either of them yet," Harry said. "To avoid hard feelings."

"But what about when you finally _do_ tell them?" Kero asked.

Harry didn't have an answer to that one…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: There was another version I made of this chapter that was pretty angst-y, so I had to rewrite most of it. Nearly everything but the opening lines and the flashbacks, really.

Here's the original version, just for posting's sake. I really hate it when writers hint things but never show it…

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ORIGINAL UNCUT 

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Winter Moon smiled nervously up at them, grabbing the clipboard and clutching it and the pen to her chest in much the same fashion. "He heh... hey guys! Fancy meeting you here..."

She fell silent, her attempt at Chandler-esque distraction fizzling out.

"Winter, what are you doing here…?" Harry said slowly, fear getting a hold of his heart even as possibilities started crowding around his head…

Lee was more direct. Grabbing Winter, she hauled her up and shoved her against the wall. "Moon, how did you find us?" she asked forcefully.

Winter was wide-eyed at this treatment, obviously surprised the Lee would act like this, but said, "I-I saw you two running down the hall and figured you were going after one of those Card things, so I followed you."

"Card things?" Harry repeated, coming to stand behind Lee. "What do you know about…'Card things'?"

Winter's gaze darted from side to side. "Um…" she stalled.

Lee growled. "Moon…" she said threateningly.

Winter gulped. "Nearly everything…"

Harry and Lee both twitched. "Define 'nearly everything'," Harry said, managing to sound normal. He'd been expecting his voice to go high and squeaky.

Winter gulped. "Maybe I should start at the beginning…?" she said.

"Not here," Lee said sharply. "Follow me."

Pushing Winter gently but firmly, Lee took her to the nearest empty classroom, Harry following closely behind. They made Winter sit in an empty chair and both loomed over her, unconsciously standing side by side.

"Now," Lee said, "You were saying…?"

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Harry listened in mounting horror as Winter described how he had Sealed The Time Card, The Thunder Card, The Sword Card, how she'd seen Lee Stun The Sweet Card, how she'd listened in when they'd talked about how Lee should treat her Cards, how she'd watched them with The Fly Card, and how she'd watched them deal with The Firey Card just now.

At the end of her recitation, Winter gulped, looking at the two of them.

They waited expectantly.

"That's it?" Lee said. "That's all you heard?"

Winter shrugged. "Well, there were those times I followed you two but you suddenly disappeared after Harry pulled out The Time Card. I'm guessing you stopped time and moved or something."

"So you weren't listening to us twenty-four seven?" Lee said.

Winter shook her head. "No, just when… you know, when you might be going looking for those card things."

"Clow Cards," Harry corrected out of reflex.

Lee glared at him. "Nice going, _Card Captor_," she said sarcastically.

Harry gave her a look, but it was toned down out of reflex. Winter was here, after all. "She already knows nearly everything," he said. "What's a little more?"

"Besides," he said, looking at Winter. "She's known all this time and hasn't told anyone… presumably."

Winter nodded. "I haven't told anyone," she confirmed. "No one. At all."

"So you've just been following us around, watching us Catch and Seal Clow Cards?" Lee said, slightly disbelieving. "_Why?_"

Harry was wondering the same thing.

"Well, I've been writing about you," Winter said.

"Why?" Lee pressed.

Winter shifted in her seat. "It's complicated," she said.

Harry and Lee exchanged looks before they realized who the other was, looking away from each other quickly. Winter was too busy tracing something on the armrest of her seat to notice.

"Try us," Harry said dryly.

Winter sighed. "You know how I like reading fanfiction, right?" she said.

"We're the ones who keep you from falling of the stairs, remember?" Lee said, as dry as Harry.

Winter blushed. "Oh, yeah, right. Well, anyway, it's like… when I read, it's an escape from the world around me. The same for when I write. That's why most of my fics are self-inserts. I have fantasies about some kind of thing happening that would make the SI I wrote come true, and I'm end up in Konoha, or the DCU, or a Teen Titan or someone like that. But I knew that even with magic being real, it won't happen like that. And then I saw what Harry did, and I realized that there were other kinds of magic in this world, kinds that are like the ones in anime or fanfics. And, I don't know, I guess even just writing about it from the outside made me feel like I was actually living it. That one of my SIs finally came true."

The two looked at each other again as Winter stopped talking.

"That's it?" Lee said. "That's why you put yourself in potentially dangerous situations, sneaking out at night? Just so you could watch us and write about it?"

Incredulity colored her voice brightly.

Winter sighed. "Yeah," she said. Another breath, and she looked up, meeting their gaze. "So, what are you two going to do about it?"

Harry and Lee looked at each other again. As much as they didn't want to, this was something they'd have to agree on.

"You haven't told anyone about us," Lee said.

"No one," Winter repeated.

"You've just been writing, keeping all this secret?" Harry said.

Winter nodded.

"Has anyone seen what you've written?" Lee asked.

"Not a soul."

"Good," Lee said. "It better stay that way."

Winter nodded. "I promise!" she said. "Look, all I want to do is watch the two of you do your thing and write about it. That's all!"

When they didn't say anything, Winter looked slightly put off. "Look, you two are my friends! I won't tell anyone about you two! I'm slightly insulted you didn't tell _me_," the two winced internally, "but I understand! I promise I won't ell anyone about you! I just want to write…"

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In the end, they took Winter at her word. What choice did they have? After all, it's been proven she could keep the secret. She kept it from _them_ quite effectively for the past half-year! And besides, she was their friend. They had to trust her…

They hadn't asked the obvious question. Had she only become friends with them to be able to get close enough so she have more to write about? They wanted to know the answer, but didn't think they could stand it if it was the wrong one. So they didn't ask…yet.

Harry wondered whether he should have told Ron and Hermione about this. Odd that the two people who knew about the Cards were his chief rival in them, and the girl he has a crush on, who'd disturbingly been stalking both of them. Before, he'd have said that the two people who'd know would be Ron and Hermione.

In the end, he decided not to tell them… yet. He was still plenty mad at Hermione over the Firebolt. He could tell Ron, but something in him felt guilty about telling one best friend without telling the other. How that jived with Lee and Winter knowing, he had no clue.

So he sighed, and hoped for the best. Things would turn out alright. He hoped…

Shouldn't it?

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As I said, angsty. Plus, it was very short.

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	18. Truths and Private Affairs

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 18, The Storm: Truths and Private Affairs…

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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Harry felt like he was in the twilight zone. Winter and Kero were both chatting and seemed to be seeing who could come down with diabetes first, judging from the rate they were going through the bag of Chocolate Frogs. They'd already gone through three, and had a lot more to go. He never realized Winter's sweet tooth was so bad.

Lee was going through Winter's quite sizable collection of fanfic printouts, occasionally grabbing a Frog herself and spouting insults at Keroberos, who returned it in kind. Those two really didn't get along too well. A part of Harry's mind absently noted that the insults weren't anywhere _near_ the ones she threw at him.

Sighing, Harry thought back to how they'd ended up in Winter's room…

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_Harry woke up to the gentle strains of the music box the Cards had given him. It turns out it was also an alarm clock. Since he'd gotten it, he'd played it dozens of times, and it had yet to repeat itself. This time it was a duet by Light and Dark, a contrasting song of fast and slow that reminded him of the music from **Phantom of the Opera**. _

_He lay lazily under the sheets, listening as the song wound it's course. The music seemed to make him want to stay in bed and get up at the same time. That was usually the effect of the songs that weren't slow and sweet **only**- such as this. It confused the heck out of his wakefulness, but he liked it anyway._

_When the song ended, only then did Harry open his eyes. Reaching over a hand, he gently closed the top of the music box, concealing it's contents, before carefully stuffing it under his pillow. He didn't want his other roommates to be messing with it, that you very much! _

_Sitting up, he stretched, getting the kinks out of his system and glancing over to see if Ron was awake. He wasn't. Good. That made things easier. At least he wouldn't need to make up excuses and lie. That always sucked, lying to his friends. _

_Quickly and quietly, with an ease born from practice, he got dressed, tucking his wand, Key and Card on his person. Quietly, he reached into Kero's 'nest' and pulled out the still sleeping Guardian, taking care not to wake him up. Kero's mutters about chocolate increased his anxiety and caution. Kero **always** woke up screaming when he dreamed about sweets. Well, when he was interrupted when he was dreaming about sweets, anyway. The times it happened, Harry was lucky he was able to shut Keroberos up and pretend he'd just had a nightmare. _

_Only when he was out of the dorm and far away from living ears- there was nothing to be done about the portraits and probably the suits of armor- only then did he wake Kero up. _

_Which he accomplished by dropping him on his head._

_Well, no actually, he just waved a piece of chocolate under Kero's nose. He wasn't cruel. Well, not when Snape and Malfoy aren't involved._

_Harry paused, the chocolate stopping. Snape and Malfoy? Why wasn't Lee's name on the list? _

_Harry was startled back to the present as Kero suddenly bit the chocolate_…

_NOW Harry dropped Kero on his head. Wincing, Harry glared at him, waving his fingers around as he tried to alleviate the pain. _

"_Chocolate…" Kero moaned, chewing weakly on the bit of chocolate. His limbs waved jerkily in the air. _

_Harry wanted to sweatdrop. He was_ _**still** asleep? "Keroberos, WAKE UP!"_

_Keroberos jerked up into the air, choking on the chocolate. _

"_See, that's what you get for eating and sleeping at the same time," Harry said, glaring at the Sun Guardian, who was trying not to choke and eat at once. _

_Without waiting for a response, Harry grabbed Kero and stuffed him under his robe, walking quickly towards nowhere in particular. _

"_HEY!" Kero protested. "Where are we going?"_

"_Hunting," Harry said simply._

"_Hunting?"_

"_Specifically, Clow Card hunting," Harry said. "Lee got the last one. Not _way_ am I going to let her get any more."_

"_Finally!" Kero said as they made their way down yet another corridor. "It's about time you took the initiative, Harry! I knew I was making the right choice when I made you the Card Captor! Thanks to my coaching, you'll…"_

_Harry rolled his eyes, tuning out whatever it was Kero was saying and concentrating on feeling the magic around Hogwarts. With students around, the whole place was usually awash with magical signatures, each unique and powerful in their own way. Sure, a normal wizard's magical signature was nothing compared to a Clow Card's but with so many in the castle usually, even something as distinctive as a Clow Card's gets drowned out in the maelstrom. _

_Now, however, the background noise was greatly reduced, making it easier to concentrate. While he couldn't feel any Clow Cards yet, it was easier to feel for them. _

_Speaking of feeling…_

_Harry rounded a corner and found himself face to face with Lee. Today, for some bizarre reason, she was wearing a complete replica of Haruno Sakura's genin outfit. It didn't look quite as good on her as it did on the kunoichi. _

"_Lee," Harry said through gritted teeth. _

_A toothy smile. "Potter," Lee said. _

_Kero popped his head out of Harry's robes and glared at her. She ignored him, eyes on Harry glaring at him. He glared right back, not breaking eye contact. You could almost **see** the lightning shooting from each other's eyes and zapping in mid-air…_

"_Harry! Lee!" a cheerful voice cried. _

_The two looked away from each other at the cry, heads whipping at high speed to look at the silver-haired figure dashing towards them. Kero ducked back under the robe. For once, she wasn't carrying one of her print-outs of fanfics. Instead, she was holding the pen and clipboard she'd had a few days ago. "I'm glad I found you guys! You two promised me an interview!"_

_Harry and Lee blinked. "We did?" Harry said, and Lee snapped her jaws shut so fast, her teeth cracked. She'd been about to say the same thing. _

_Winter pouted at Lee. "Aw, no jinx? Bummer. Oh well, you two still owe me a lot."_

_Then she blinked, doing a double-take at what Lee was wearing. "Whoa… Lee, where'd you get that?" she said in wonder._

"_I've always had it," Lee said casually._

"_Mind if I borrow it some time?" Winter asked, to which Lee just shrugged, although she turned red as she did so. Only Harry seemed to notice, and he frowned, remembering his accusation. _

"_Great!" Winter said, not noticing. "Come on. Let's go to my room. I'm the only one left at Ravenclaw, so it's alright if we go there, although I'll have to ask you two not to spread the password around if you happen to hear it."_

"_Genius," Lee said, and Winter stared at her in shock. She just smiled. "I have my ways of getting around too, Moon."_

_Before Winter could respond to that, Kero darted out of Harry's robes and pointed at Winter accusingly. "Alright you! I don't know what you know, but it ends here! You are not going to get any more information out of us! Or else, I'm going to-"_

"_EEK! IT'S SO CUTE!" Winter squealed and Kero was suddenly tackle-hugged by an ecstatic Ravenclaw, "Harry, is he yours? I sort of remember seeing you with him back during the summer, but I'll have to check my notes. Oh, he's so adorable! Hey, little fella. What's your name?"_

_Kero looked a bit off at this sudden interrogation. Still he tried to recover. "Uh, I am the Sun Guardian, Keroberos, and I-" he intoned pompously._

"_Oh, that's pretty long. Can I call you Kero-chan instead, cutie?" Winter said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a chocolate frog. "Do you like chocolate?" she said as she offered it to the newly re-dubbed Kero-chan._

_Kero took one look and immediately turned to Harry. "Harry, I commend you on your choice of companions!"_

_Harry suddenly had a sinking feeling as Kero and Winter started to bond. He didn't even notice as they started walking towards the Ravenclaw quarters…_

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The sinking feeling was still there as Harry realized Winter was offering him a frog. Muttering something that might have been thanks– it might also have been an offer to marry him–Harry bit off the frogs head, trying to regain his equilibrium by concentrating on the taste of the chocolate. Well, it could have been worst. Kero could have decided Winter needed to be dealt with or something. He didn't want to even _think_ of what that might entail!

"Um, Winter…" Harry ventured.

"Oh, right, the interview," Winter said, grabbing one last handful of frogs and stuffing them into her mouth before she reached for the pen and clipboard that had lain neglected at the foot of the bed. "Okay, let's start with Harry…"

'Harry' didn't actually have to say a single thing, for which he was grateful, although it was pretty annoying how Kero kept answering the things Winter meant for him. Kero seemed to be trying to ingratiate to Winter– or at least convince her to keep feeding him chocolate frogs. Lee kept snickering at him as she continued reading the fics. Harry was mildly amused to note that the particular compilation of printouts Lee was reading were all written by him. For a moment, he considered giving her a heart attack by telling her she was reading–and actually enjoying!– _his_ stuff, but decided against it. For now, anyway.

Resisting the urge to evil-laugh, Harry waited not so impatiently as Kero finished divulging all the details of what had happened on the train to Hogwarts. Harry was thankful he didn't tell Kero anything about the kissing– he _really_ didn't want to see Winter's reaction to that little detail!

"What's with all the notes anyway, Moon?" Lee said as she reclined on a pillow, munching on a frog and idly leafing through another fic compilation. "You writing a book or something?"

"Something like that," Winter said, her tongue sticking out of a corner of her mouth as she quickly jotted down the last things Kero had said.

"What exactly?" Harry asked warily. "I mean, you're not planning to write a tell-all book about me, are you?"

"Of course not, although it sounds like a good idea," Winter said, musing at the last. At Harry's expression of wide-eyed horror, she burst out laughing. "No, I'm not going to write a tell-all book, or anything like that. It's been done, anyway. No, I'm going to be writing something else!"

"Which is?" Kero asked cheerfully, and Harry shot him a betrayed look. He liked Winter too, but Kero could at _least_ show _some_ concern about this! It was a book using data about their activities, for crying out loud!

Winter grinned, and Harry felt a shudder go down his spine. He knew that look. It was the same look Ron got when he talked about Quidditch, the Chudley Cannons and chess. It was the same look Hermione got when she talked about homework, exams and studying. Had this happened a year later, he would have recognized it as the same look Hermione would have when she talked about S.P.E.W.

He should have given in to the urge to run. Unfortunately, he wasn't experienced enough to know it was a good idea.

"I'm going to write a series of novels! It's going to be about this guy who has to find this bunch of spirits who've been unleashed upon the world, with the help of his noble beast friend," here, Keroberos preened, "an assisted by his beautiful love-interest compaion!"

There were three near-simultaneous reactions to that.

"I LOVE THE IDEA!" Kero said, stars in his eyes. He was probably picturing himself with three heads, fiery skin and a hundred feet tall.

"So basically my life is getting turned into a magical boy story," Harry said, hanging his head in shame. He should have known. This was Winter, after all. well, it could be worse. She could have decided to make it a lemon.

"**_LOVE INTEREST?_**" was Lee's nearly shrieked reaction.

Harry winced at the noise, than shuddered in disgust and horror as he realized what Lee was talking about. "**_SHE'S NOT MY LOVE INTEREST!_**" he protested just as loudly.

Winter grinned, and neither of them could tell if she was being teasing or not. "But the two of you are so cute together! Think of it: a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, trying desperately to be friends in this cruel, intolerant world with it's preconceptions and divisive traditions. How could two souls not fall in love after their struggles to be together as friends, when such effort on part of both could only mean they are destined to be much more?"

The two twitched, looking at each other in shared and mutual disgust at the idea. Lee looked like she was gagging on something.

"You're starting to remind of the horror stories my cousin keeps writing to me about regarding his girlfriend's best friend," Lee said dryly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "What kind of horror stories?"

Lee gave him a level look, and for the moment, they were in complete understanding. "When he was younger, my cousin Syaoran was sent to this little place in Japan because it was believed the Clow Cards could be found there." Her lips twitched. "Sadly, that wasn't the case– as you well know. However, while he was staying in that little town– he was there for two years with my twin sister Meilin– he met this girl who would later become his girlfriend. The girl had a friend who seemed to practically idolize, probably even worship her– I suspect the friend's a lesbian–" here Harry had to rein in the urge to snort, "but regardless, the friend soon started setting the two of them up. It got weirder when my sister started helping the plans along, even though, at that time, she was engaged to marry our cousin. "

"What's so horrific about that?" Harry had to ask, although some parts of it already scared him. Being engaged to marry your own cousin? Being asked to deliberately _look_ for the Clow Cards? Alone? Without Keroberos? That was just… irresponsible!

But then, Harry mused a bit more, who was _he_ to talk?

"They really didn't get long very well in the beginning, although the friend claimed that meant there was a lot of romantic tension between them. Eventually, she blackmailed them into going on a date. How, he's never told me, although he threatened to scalp me if I ever ask again. I think my sister knows, but she's not telling."

Harry shuddered, then shuddered again when he noticed the gleam in Winter's eye. "Don't _you_ get any ideas," he growled.

"Too late," Winter said cheerily, the gleam positively shining.

Harry glared at Lee. "This is all _your_ fault."

"_Me?_"

"If you hadn't told that horror story, she wouldn't have gotten any ideas!"

"I'll show you 'ideas'… !"

"Ah, so much romantic tension in the air," Winter said knowingly, causing Kero to start laughing himself out of the air. Harry and Lee glared at the two of them, for once united without the common threat of a Clow Card to fight.

"We are not," Lee said icily, seemingly directing her words to Keroberos, "like that. We are just-"

"Rivals," Harry interrupted, knowing they'd get more teasing if she continued. The 'just friends' line tends to do that. Lee glanced at him, then nodded in understanding. "Friendly rivals."

"For now," Winter teased.

"No offense, but I'd rather kiss a Clow Card than get involved with Potter that way," Lee said. Harry nodded in agreement.

Harry knew that was a mistake the moment Kero grinned knowingly. "_Harry_ kisses the Clow Cards. Sleeps with them, too."

Harry tried to collapse in on himself as Lee and Winter stared at him, the former looking decidedly amused, one eyebrow raised and an almost-smile on her lips, the latter very much surprised, her jaw slack and putting her at risk should a fly decide to use her mouth to commit suicide.

"Why, Potter," Lee said slyly, doing a fair approximation of Professor Snape. "I didn't know you were into older woman. Or women at all, for that matter. All that romantic tension between you and Malfoy… "

Harry barely resisted the urge to have Earthy bury her in the center of he planet. "Stuff it, Lee," he growled.

"You've… kissed _and_ slept with the Clow Cards?" Winter said, sounding awed. "Wow… you're so manly, Harry!"

Harry and Lee almost facefaulted into the bed. Whatever they'd been expecting, it sure wasn't that.

"I… wouldn't have pegged you as the Nodoka Saotome type," Harry muttered into the mattress he'd fallen into as he tried to right himself.

"You seemed more Maito Gai and Usagi Tsukino-esque, Moon," Lee agreed, also prying her face off the bed.

"So, what's it like to kiss a Clow Card?" Winter asked, leaning forward eagerly, waiting for his answer, causing Harry to dart back at the possible invasion of his personal space, although the back of his mind was saying, "Isn't this how Naruto and Sasuke ended up kissing?"

"It's… nothing special, really," Harry mumbled, barely intelligible. "It's just kissing… "

"What, are you gay or something, Potter?" Lee said, smirking. "I mean, you get to make out with older women who happen to be very good looking, well-built and either scantily dressed, immodestly dressed, or sometimes not dressed at all, not to mention sleep with them, and you're not bragging about it or anything? Sheesh, are you the lead male character in a harem anime?"

"Ooh, a harem-comedy angle!" Winter said, eyes growing wide in realization. "I didn't think about that. Thanks for the idea, Lee!"

Harry went redder. "Kero, a little help here?" he said desperately.

"He slept with The Mirror Card when we were in Diagon Alley," Kero chirped.

"NOT HELPING!"

"So, you're not a virgin any more, Potter?" Lee said, grinning as Winter blushed in embarrassment- finally!

"We just SLEPT TOGETHER! As in, TOOK A NAP IN THE SAME BED!" Harry yelled.

"Touchy," Lee said, still grinning.

Harry threw Winter's pillow at Lee, who just shrugged it off and laughed, the maniac! "Okay, enough about me. How about you, Lee? Don't you have anything to add for Winter's notes ?"

"Yeah," Winter said, abruptly shifting sides as she turned her inquiring gaze towards the Slytherin girl. "Tell me about yourself. You know, your likes, dislikes, dreams, where you're from… you said you had a twin sister and cousin. What are _they_ like?"

Lee, suddenly finding herself on the defensive, looked hard pressed not to glare as she compressed her lips into a thin line.

"Oh, come on," Winter pouted, clasping her hands pleadingly at Lee. "Harry was a sport about it. It's only fair you are too!"

Behind Winter, Harry stuck his tongue out at Lee, who wasn't able to retaliate.

Lee grit her teeth and sighed. "Fine," she muttered. No way was she going to let Winter think better of Potter than of her!

Harry sat back and relaxed as Lee started giving her side's view of things. One good thing about having gone first; Lee couldn't paint him in a bad light, since that would paint both him and Kero out as a liar. Lee seemed to realize this after the second time Winter corrected her when she tried to skew things. He wondered whether that had been Kero's plan all along…

Harry's attention perked back up when Winter asked about Lee's sister. He wanted to hear this; he found it hard to believe anyone would want to stay _that_ closely related to Lee.

"Her name is Meilin," Lee said, and shrugged. "She's my sister: what else is there to say?"

"What's she like? What does she look like? Is she like you? Why isn't she here in Hogwarts with you? I mean, you're twins, right?" Winter pressed.

"She's not here at Hogwarts because she's a squib," Lee said, although she didn't look sure. "Maybe. It's hard to say whether she's a squib or I'm a Muggle-born. I mean, my cousin can use magic, but his four sisters can't."

Winter decided to leave that well enough alone. "So, what's she look like? Do you have a picture? Are you paternal twins or maternal twins? Is she as nice as you?"

It was all Harry could do not to burst out laughing at the last question; Keroberos nearly choked on his chocolate. Lee, nice? HAH!

Lee shrugged, pretending not to notice the byplay going on behind her interviewer, although the way she was clenching her fists was sort of a giveaway. "Well, she's my twin, but that doesn't mean we're disturbingly identical or anything. For one thing, I look more like my cousin than my sister. The only thing my sister and I share is our eye color. She has dark hair, for one, and is kind of loud. Gets really annoying sometimes…"

"What about your cousin? What's he like?" Winter pressed.

Again, Lee shrugged. "Syaoran is… Syaoran. He's a lot like me in a lot of things. People tend to think _we're_ the twins, since we look so much alike. The only thing I don't get about him is why he doesn't like 'Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle'. I mean, sure, the lead looks a little like him but still…"

Again Lee trailed off, then shrugged.

"Well, I guess that's enough on your relatives," Winter said, as she hurriedly finished taking down notes at a rate that would have given Hermione a run for her money. She grinned. "Now I'll just have to wait for a Clow Card to show up soI can get some first hand information!"

"What about you, Winter?" Harry said as he took a frog and bit it's head off. "We've basically been playing truth or dare with a lot of truth for the past hour or so. Your turn to spill the beans. What are _you_ like?"

Lee nodded. "It's sort of unfair you got us talking about ourselves without you adding anything."

Winter paused, and for the first time, she didn't look as cheery as she usually did. "I'm no one special…" she said.

"You managed to notice what we've been doing in the castle when no one else has, my best friends included," Harry said. "That's plenty special."

Winter shuffled nervously. "Well, I'm kind of an orphan. Well, not really. I mean, I still have my aunt, but she's seldom around–almost never, actually– so I'm alone in our apartment most of the time. She sends me money regularly, though, and pays the bills, but for most of my life, I've lived pretty much alone. My next-door neighbor– Jenny's her name– takes care of me sometimes, but I don't really like imposing on her. She's the one who sends me my fic compilations during the school year, although she doesn't know I go to Hogwarts. She thinks I'm in some invitation-only boarding school– which is pretty much the case."

"You live alone?" Harry said, not knowing how to feel. On the one hand, it was kind of sad that the closest person Winter had to call for help was a next-door neighbor. On the other hand, at least she didn't have to deal with Dursleys. Still, was the a good trade-off…?

Winter made a movement as if to brush the hair out of her eyes. Harry didn't see what happened next, but Lee did. She pretended she didn't notice as Winter wiped the tears from her eyes. "It's not as bad as it sounds. MY aunt calls me nearly every day in the summers, and sends me letters at least twice a month. I just wished she'd come home more often…"

When Winter raised her head again, she was smiling, although not as brightly as she usually did. "Well, enough about me. So, Harry, do you have any favorites among the Clow Cards? Which one of them is the best kisser?"

The tone was teasing, although the way her fingers were poised with the pen showed she intended to note down his answer whatever it was. Harry glared at Keroberos, who was playing so innocent any judge would have called him guilty on that alone. "I am never going to forgive you for this."

Lee leaned forward, grinning. "So, _do_ you have a favorite, Potter?" she jabbed, not able to stop herself, and honestly not wanting too. This was _fun!_

When asked later, Harry was never able to say just why he answered as he did. "I suppose you and Fight kiss all the time?"

"No, only when I dismiss her…" Lee trailed off, her eyes widening in horror as she realized what she'd just admitted to.

Harry's face split into a wide grin. Christmas was sending him a belated gift! "Oh, _your_ Clow Cards kiss you too, huh? What's it like, kissing girl-girl?"

At Winter's look, Harry explained. "Nearly all of Lee's Clow Cards are female. Fight's female too, and Lee here likes calling on her a lot… hmm, I guess she enjoys the lipping," Harry said cheerily.

"Burn you, Potter," Lee growled.

Winter blushed. "Oh…I didn't know you were like that, Lee…"

"I'm not!" Lee protested. "I'm straight, darn it! Straight!"

"It's no shame liking girls, Lee," Harry shamelessly teased. "Guys do it all the time. Really it's no big deal."

"I'm not… I'M STRAIGHT, BURN IT ALL! STRAIGHT, YOU HEAR! THOSE CLOW CARDS KISS ME AGAINST MY WILL!"

"It's alright, Lee," Winter said, making appeasing gestures. "I don't think any less of you. I'm okay with it, really. My neighbor's a lesbian too, so I'm not biased or anything."

"NOT YOU TOO! I AM NOT A LESBIAN, OKAY? GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEADS! I'M STRAIGHT. S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T!"

"The Lady doth protest too much," Keroberos said.

At Lee's scream of frustration, Harry decided he could forgive Kero for telling about the kissing. Knowing the same thing happened to Lee was enough cosmic justice.

Eventually, Winter broke out laughing, saying she was kidding, and that she really didn't think Lee was 'like that'. She never stopped teasing Lee for it, however.

Harry decided having Winter around wasn't so bad after all…

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**- To be continued…**

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Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	19. The Theatre Experience

A/N: about a week has passed since the last chap.

Winter and Windy bond and commit acts of pure evil!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 19, The Erase: The Theatre Experience…

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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It was very hard not to notice the new spring in Harry's step. Even Ron, who was always getting accused of insensitivity, picked up on it.

"What's with the mood, mate?" Ron said as they got dressed for breakfast. "I'd think you'd still be a little mad after what Hermione did."

Harry's lips pursed slightly at the reminder of what had happened to his Firebolt, but shook it off as the euphoria came back to him. "Oh, I sort of got lucky recently," Harry grinned, not elaborating.

Ron grinned. "Finally hooked up with Winter huh? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Harry chuckled. "No, not that lucky, but as good as. Winter and I hung out on the last day of vacation. It's not exactly scoring, but it was good as."

"Alright!" Ron said, clapping Harry on the shoulder in congratulations. "Good for you, Harry!"

Harry grinned at Ron. "Come on. Race you to the Great Hall!"

With that, Harry dashed off ahead of the redhead, who yelled at him for nabbing a head start.

Harry grinned as he ran ahead of Ron, the comforting feeling of the Clow Cards in his pocket and the Clow Key around his neck glowing warmly. What he'd told Ron was about half true. He was also still high from the two Clow Cards he'd Sealed recently, not to mention the praise he'd gotten from Winter for doing it. The fact that Lee had been soundly embarrassed was icing and filling on the cake.

He was so high, he almost missed feeling Winter as she rounded a corner, her head predictably in another thick sheaf of printouts. Harry was barely able to skid around her and nearly ended up slamming against a wall.

"Ow…" Harry said as he shook his hands. The palms were burning where he'd needed to brace himself against the wall to slow down.

"See you at the Great Hall, Harry!" Ron said as he passed by, laughing.

Deciding that there was no point in continuing, Harry brushed himself off, only to feel someone bump against his back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm- Harry? Oh, sorry Harry, I didn't see you there," Winter said.

Harry shook his head in exasperation. "You know, Winter, sometimes I just don't get you. How do you manage to deduce where Clow Cards are when you barely seem to pay attention to the world around you, I have no idea."

"Hey, I was reading!" Winter pouted cutely, self-consciously putting the printouts back in her bag. He and Lee had been trying to break her of the habit of reading as she walked– or at least make her pay attention to where she was going as she read, which was physically possible– but it was slow going. The most they'd been able to do was get her to put away the fics when they were there.

"As much as I like reading fics, I really don't think it's a good idea to do it where I could become a potential traffic accident," Harry said dryly as the began walking to the Great Hall together. When Winter pouted again, Harry just laughed and flicked her nose, earning him a whack on the shoulder.

They talked about nothings on their way to the Entrance Hall, which Harry was glad to see was Lee-less. While he figured it would be amusing to see how the school would react if he and Lee greeted each other then didn't fight- right away, any way- he had a reputation to maintain. One that he couldn't maintain with Winter around without destroying all the progress he'd made with her.

They split up as they went to their respective House tables for breakfast, where Ron was currently trying to do his best to out-eat Harry. It took Harry all of five minutes to overtake Ron.

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"Hey Lee," Winter said as she passed the Slytherin girl on her way out. "See you later."

Not bothering waiting for a reply, Winter took off for parts unknown, leaving Fei looking after her. It wasn't that she'd greeted her that was the problem. It was that she did it in front of Malfoy and his cronies.

"What's with you and the bookworm?" Malfoy said suspiciously as they walked towards breakfast.

"Nothing," Fei said tartly, still annoyed over how the last Clow Card incident had turned out. Why, _oh_ why, did Fight have to choose that time to kiss her good bye when she dismissed her? In front of Winter, no less? She'd been so embarrassed, Potter was able to tell Winter to sing first, making it his idea and netting him The Song Card afterwards. "She must think I'm her friend or something just because I let her partner up with me in some of our Herbology classes."

"Hey, lesbian," Potters annoying voice greeted behind her, and she whirled, unable to stop her gut reaction.

"I'M STRAIGHT, DAMN IT! **_STRAIGHT!_**" Fei yelled right in Potter's face, whose strangely Malfoy-esque smirk wasn't fazed one bit. Ever since she'd made her unfortunate admission, he'd been using the card at every opportunity.

His expression not changing one iota, Potter turned to Malfoy. "Better watch out, Malfoy. You have more competition with the ladies."

Pansy began inching away from Fei, either because she was afraid Fei _was_ a lesbian– as if she had taste that bad!– or because Fei was now an unhealthy shade of rage-red.

"I AM NOT A LESBIAN, GRYFFINDOR TRASH!"

"Slytherin garbage," Harry retorted, still smirking.

"HEY!" the various Slytherins and Gryffindors in hearing range protested.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Fei and Harry said in tandem, although Harry was a few decibels quieter.

Somewhere in the castle, Winter sneezed. Why did she feel like Lee and Harry owed her a package of chocolate frogs each?

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"'Lesbian'?" Ginny quoted as she and Ron pulled Harry out of the Great Hall.

Harry shrugged, grinning at the knowledge he had a new weapon to use on Lee that would guarantee near-instant victory. "It seemed like an opportunity."

"What if you offended anyone here in school?" Ginny pressed. Why was she doing this? Wasn't this kind of thing Hermione's job?

"You mean like Pavarti and Lavender?" Harry said innocently.

Ginny blinked. "They're lesbians?"

"They're too close to be anything else, always closeting themselves alone together, holding hands, keeping their faces awfully close… if they were guys, they'd be outed immediately. It's only because there are double standards for guys and girls that they get away with that kind of blatant behavior," Harry said sagely, looking so wise as he said it.

Ron, meanwhile, had a lecherous grin on his face. "Lesbians in Hogwarts…"

Ginny rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her brother's immaturity. "Boys!" she muttered under her breath.

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The end of classes found Harry sitting under the tree on the rise Winter had claimed as her's and her friends', hands behind his head as he bummed around. Ah, bliss…!

He felt the energy rippling towards him. The Card Captor imagined he could _feel_ the killer intent in the air. The boy smiled, checking to see if his wand was still tucked between his fingers behind his neck. It was. Lazily, he opened one eye. "Hey, lesbian," he said cheerily.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Lee yelled, shaking with rage.

"Whatever you say… girl kisser," Harry chirped.

"You are a dead man, Potter," Lee said, eerily calm, a split second before she dove for Harry's neck.

Winter found them on the ground, struggling against each other, yelling things like "get your knee off my-", "Hey! that hurt!", and "Why you little-!"

"Oh, the glorious power of youth!" Winter exclaimed, causing the two of them to stop in surprise. "Such a show of vitality and energy is truly heartwarming! May this springtime of youth never fade, and provide inspiration for generations to come!"

The two blink-blinked, giving Winter the standard 'where's her second head?' look.

"Well," Harry said, "at least she's back to being Maito Gai. The Nodoka Saotome bit was creeping me out."

Lee nodded in agreement, her chin bumping into Harry's head as she relaxed the headlock she had slightly. Their momentum broken, the two grudgingly started untangling themselves, subtly trying to jab each other without Winter noticing. It amazed then sometimes that Winter could catch them going at it like that–this wasn't the first time and _definitely _not the last– and come to a conclusion at least a light-year away from 'the two of them hate each other. Such as now. Was she really that blind when it came to them?

"You know, you two didn't have to stop on my account," Winter said slyly, an insinuating smile on her lips.

Seems so.

Harry was barely able to keep his reaction reined in. Next to him, Lee was biting her lip to hold back her instinctive response. This wasn't the first time Winter had insinuated there was some kind of thing between them that was in some way romantic, but every time she did it, Harry always hoped it was the last. Whenever it happened, Harry always resolved to _finally_ try and… well, not exactly tell her how he felt (that was too cliché), but at least get her to notice him as something more than a friend.

"We were beating on each the way rivals should," Lee said rather primly, straightening out her robes. She smiled, a small smile for anyone else, but a grin for her. "I was kicking Potter's ass before you showed up."

"Says you," Harry shot back, giving her his best Uchiha glare. She gave him her best Gaara look.

The two stopped when they heard Winter giggling. "Ah, Tendo, now it is certain that the two houses will be joined!"

"Indeed, Saotome," Winter said, changing her pitch.

Harry palmed his face as Lee sighed. "I hate it when she does that," the latter muttered.

"Crazy anime addict," Harry agreed, shaking his head. Both voices were fond, however, even if the fondness wasn't too audible. "Is teasing us the only reason you wanted s here, Winter, 'cause I've got homework I have to but would rather not be doing."

"And please don't let it be for another rendition of the Glow and Song Card incidents," Lee said. "I've had to listen to Potter's gloating too many times already."

"HEY! I do not 'gloat'… much."

"No, it's not that," Winter said, waving the idea away. "Although I still think it was sheer genius how Harry got the idea that singing with The Song Card would make it appear. No, I kind of need you two to do me a favor."

The two blinked, looking at each other questioningly before realizing who the other was and snapping their gazes away. "What kind of favor, Moon?" Lee asked warily, trying to sound nonchalant.

Winter smiled beatifically, and Harry simultaneous felt his heart flutter and clench with fear. He had a bad feeling about this…

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Fei scowled down at the table, with it's many tall stacks of blank parchment tickets, then at the people bustling around her, some making props, others painting backdrops, still others fitting their costumes. A few in the corner were waving their wands, making them stream out different-colored streams of light. Somewhere in the background, some girl was spouting off about excellence. It sounded suspiciously like something an anime character would say. Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune was Fei's bet.

"What the heck am I doing here?" she muttered to herself as she dipped the various quills in front of her in the right inks, before waving her wand, causing the quills to start drifting from parchment to parchment and begin writing down tickets.

As if to answer her question, Winter passed by, talking to an as-usual dazed-looking Luna Lovegood, who didn't seem to be hearing a word of what was being said. Winter either didn't notice or knew otherwise as she kept on talking, referring to a clipboard she held.

"Oh, right, her," Fei answered herself, sighing as she concentrated back on the parchment tickets she was supposed to be making. Who knew a theater production was so much work? Or that Hogwarts even _had_ a theater club, much less had theater productions! "The things I do…" she muttered, trailing off as she reloaded a quill.

Still, she couldn't help but smile as she watched Potter trying to get a piece of scenery set up right. It wasn't cooperating, sprouting legs and dashing off on it's own merry way, with the Card Captor in hot pursuit, looking about ready to tear his own hair off. She thanked her lucky stars for cushy desk jobs as she went back to working on the tickets.

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Harry finally managed to keep the piece of scenery in place by the simple expedient of transfiguring a splinter of wood into a nail and hammering the thing to the floor. The thing thumped every so often, but otherwise stayed in place.

Harry took a moment to catch his breath, pausing to wonder _how_ he had never heard of the theater club in all his years at Hogwarts. It seemed to be the receptacle of all the nut jobs in the school, the literal loony bin.

First, there was Luna Lovegood, a.k.a., Loony. She didn't seem to be all there, she talked about things whose existence was dubious at best (honestly, what the heck was the crumple horned shnorcrack, or whatever the thing was called?), she kept warning him about being bitten by strange creatures whenever he handled a piece of scenery (which he was more likely to get bitten by the scenery itself), and, worst of all, she kept dropping comments about how much he liked Winter and how they'd make a cute couple together (and causing him to suspect that maybe she had more brain matter than she let on). He was just thankful Winter was never around when she dropped those hints

Then there was the trio of idiots who called themselves Team Seven. The girl was too fat for the red dress she was wearing (reminding Harry violently of pictures of American Cosplayers who were at least a hundred and fifty pounds too heavy to be cosplaying as, say, Rikku or Chii– OH, THE HORROR!), the guy in the white shorts and blue shirt was too skinny, his skin too dark and his hair too curly, and the 'blonde's' hair was obviously dyed, not to mention was too tall and obviously a girl, never mind she got the shade of the jump suit wrong. Harry doubted Naruto would _ever_ wear a _pink_ jumpsuit. It was no surprise that The Fight Card had beat up on them. Harry's anime aesthetic sense was highly offended.

Then there was Colin Creevey. Harry always wondered what the little pest did when he was out of sight. According to the Naruto wannabe cross-dresser, Colin had been trying for the past two years for them to make a play about 'The Life Of Harry Potter'. He was thankful _that_ had never pushed through, although he'd really like to know why people thought he was in some way connected to either Merlin or Godric Gryffindor. Wasn't being the 'Boy-Who-Lived' enough?

After that, there was the Trelawney clone who kept predicting Harry would have a painful, disfiguring accident (he didn't know what was worse, Dragonfly Eye's accident omens or Super Dragonfly Eye's death omens), the weirdo (relatively: he was par for the course here) in the dark, shadowy corner who kept rubbing a necklace and muttering 'dearest, dearest', the makeup 'specialist' who admitted to using six coats of the brightest blue eye shadow in existence on her eyes and wore 'puffy' dresses that bore _more_ than a passing resemblance to circus tents, and a whole lot more loonies too traumatizing to remember right then who'd do the Nerima Wrecking Crew proud.

Speaking of which, there was also the girl in the frilly pink dress, fake fangs, (or were they real?) and pink parasol who kept muttering darkly about having seen the Makai…

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"Where have you been, mate?" Ron asked Harry. "And what the heck happened to you?"

"Don't wanna talk about it…" Harry mumbled as he dragged his ass back to the common room, looking both dead on his feet and shell-shocked. Fake foliage was on his hair, the sleeves of his robes were ragged and he had blue paint on his face, courtesy of the make-up specialist. Without another word, he headed straight for the showers.

Ron stared after his best friend, a confused look on his face, then turned to Colin, who had come in after Harry and despite being as physically disheveled, was his usual perky, annoying self. "What happened?" he asked the boy.

Colin shrugged. "I guess Harry couldn't keep up," he said and went to hang out with his friends, leaving Ron standing confused in the middle of the common room.

"Huh?

----------------------------------------

It soon made the grapevine that Harry Potter was helping out with the Theatre Club's productions. There were mixed reviews. Some, like Wood, worried that this would degrade Gryffindor's chances of winning the Quidditch cup– although, in true Wood fashion, there was a lot of overacting: Harry almost expected for there to be crashing waves, sunsets and lightning strikes behind the slightly deranged Quidditch Captain. If Harry were talking to Hermione, she'd probably say something about how this could lead to his schoolwork slipping. However, he was _not_ talking to Hermione, and he _never_ listened to Wood– he _knew_ the man was slightly deranged, and you should seldom, if ever, listen to a crazy person– and all the rest didn't really care what he did with his time, so it didn't really matter.

Then the fact that _Fei Lee_ was also helping out the Theatre Club leaked out. _That_ caused a (quiet) uproar. The two of them, working in close proximity? The Hufflepuff's betting rings practically tripled their profits overnight predicting how long it took for the two of them to crack and do something _really_ drastic.

When a week passed by, and still nothing happened, everyone was stunned. Their 'meetings' in the halls were still happening as often as usual, but as soon as they got into the Theatre Club's range… nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sure, they kept giving each other nasty looks that were set on '_Avada Kedavra_', and there were the subtle attempts to trip each other up, but other than that… nothing. No sabotaging each other's work, no snide remarks about their performance, NOTHING!

The biggest stunner was when, in front of witnesses, Harry asked Fei to hand him something in a _polite_ tone, and she actually did! And he thanked her! _POLITELY!_ It was plain weird! Half the school was borrowing Divination books from the library and the other half to see if this was a sign of Armageddon. Or at least a repeat of the great flood. Another ice age, maybe?

The Theatre Club, always looking to make a quick buck– or at least, their overly thin, helmet haired, _guy _Nabiki-lookalike was– began charging admission for people to watch Fei and Harry while they worked. Stunned spectators came back looking shell-shocked, spouting incoherent tales of polite behavior. Winter put a stop to all this when she found out, however. She did _not_ want people underfoot and impeding her production. They were going slowly as it was…

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"Hurry up!" Winter said to no one in general, frowning cutely at everyone in sight.

Well, in Harry and Fei's opinion, anyway. Everyone else knew that as the 'Look-of-DOOM!' Winter wasn't the only one in the castle who was a little blind.

"HEY, Bobeck! WAKE UP!" Winter said, marching up to where the make-up specialist was slumped over and shaking her awake. She jerked awake, blinking sleepily and looking surprised she'd fallen asleep. Her expression changed to one of stark terror as she realized who had woken her up. She jerked up squealing in fear, then scrambling around trying to look busy, grabbing buckets of makeup left and right.

Scowling cutely–again, only Harry and Fei's opinion– Winter stalked off, only to round on some fat Hufflepuff with dorky glasses and haircut who was sleeping on a convenient box, leaning against the wall. A half-eaten doughnut was still in his hand, white sugar on his face. "Carey! WAKE UP!"

Another jerk and another sleeping individual was jerking awake trying not to look guilty. Shaking her head in annoyance– cutely, of course– Winter stalked off towards Harry, who was trying to move a large cloth bag containing curtains. It was one a more than a dozen clothe bags containing costumes, backdrops and other cloth stuff. Since he didn't know any handy spells for moving large objects–yet, anyway– he was moving them all by hand, dragging them on the floor across the room. This job was made slightly difficult by the fact that Winter had suddenly plopped down on the bag he was dragging.

Winter sighed, closing her eyes and running her hands through her hair. If there was one thing that would drain the normally over-energetic girl, it was running the Theatre Club. "Watta day…" Winter groaned, leaving her nigh-omnipresent clipboard on her lap.

"And to think we have homework to do after all this is done," Harry said dryly, taking the opportunity to sit down next to Winter on another bag.

Winter audibly whimpered, turning awkwardly and flopping against Harry's chest. "Hold me," she sobbed, her face looking pained.

Harry stiffened slightly, before blushing quite nicely and jerkily putting an arm around the Ravenclaw, who sighed and closed her eyes. Harry was liking this. Sure, in his fantasies, they were always sitting on a bench at the docks watching the sunset, not crashed out from work-related exhaustion on a bunch of canvas bags, but he'd take what he could get.

"Enjoying yourself?" Lee said dryly as she walked up to them, waving away the ink marks on her hand with her wand.

Winter sighed. "Just let me rest a while, Lee. I'm tired from working…"

The two exchanged amused incredulous looks. _She_ was tired from working? They were the ones lugging things around! Then they remembered themselves and exchanged Uchiha glares and Gaara looks. Winter, eyes closed, didn't notice a thing.

Reaching into her pocket, Lee pulled out a bar of chocolate, broke it in two and handed Winter the bigger half. "Here," she said, nibbling at her own portion. "This'll make you feel better."

Opening her eyes, Winter stared at the sweet uncomprehendingly for a moment, before taking it from Lee and starting to eat. Lee made a big show of munching on her portion, smirking quietly at Harry, who was being reminded he hadn't eaten in a while in the most annoying way possible.

Stifling a yawn, Winter shook her head, cleaning of the sugary residue from her fingers and taking up her clipboard again. "Thanks Lee," Winter said, still sounding tired but better off than before. Giving the Slytherin girl a one-armed hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, the silver-haired girl went off to do her thing.

"Lesbian," Harry muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Lee to hear. Said girl wasn't really in a position _to_ hear, however, being that she was frozen from shock and nearly red all over. Her mouth was twitching, the possible beginnings of a goofy grin. And Harry was supremely jealous.

Sighing and knowing he wouldn't be getting a rise out of his nemesis– or much of anything else, for that matter– for a while, he left her like that, looking like a weird crimson statue as he went back to trying to drag the bags across the room.

He had moved a bag about all of three feet when he felt a familiar tingle of magic cause the hairs on the back of his head to bristle. He whirled around, eyes darting, one hand on his wand and the other reaching towards his neck for the Key. Where was it…?

The loud thump caught his attention, and he turned to where Lee had fallen in a heap on the ground, obviously unconscious. "What the…?"

Harry felt the Clow Card rushing towards him and he tensed, grasping his wand tightly and wishing he had somewhere convenient he could hide while he summoned the Sealing Wand. He thought he was able to catch a glimpse of the Card– a small, shining light– before it blew past him. His eyelids suddenly grew heavy, and his grip on his wand weakened. Knees shaking before they collapsed, he fell to the floor, darkness starting to creep over his vision…

"_Enervate!_"

Harry's eyes snapped open a moment before he fell into the Dreaming. Pushing himself off the floor, Harry shook his head, trying to focus. Winter was rushing towards him, her wand still out, obviously the one who'd revived him. A little mental note was made to ask her to teach him that spell.

"Harry!" she said kneeling down next to him as he pushed himself up, looking concerned. "What happened? I heard Lee falling over, and then you seemed to faint, and then–"

Anything else Winter would have said was cut short as Harry covered her mouth, looking frantically around. "Clow Card. I think it was putting me to sleep… and everyone else too, it seems."

Catching sight of the Clow Card's form for a moment– Harry had good training from all that Seeker practice– Harry lay down, pulling Winter down with him. "I think putting people to sleep is all it's doing," Harry whispered. "Best we wait 'til everyone else is down, then you wake up Lee while I try to Seal this one."

"What part of that involves us lying down on the floor?" Winter whispered back.

"Keep still!" Harry hissed. "This way, it thinks it's already gotten us and won't bother us anymore. I hope."

Realization shown in Winter's eyes, and she nodded. Laying her face down on the floor, she closed her lids, pretending to be asleep. Harry did the same, his hands never letting go of his wand and Key.

At first, there were murmurs of confusion as people started to fall asleep where they stood, falling in a heap like Lee had. Some attempted to wake the sudden victims, only to get knocked out themselves on top of the people they were trying to help. There were clattering sounds as whatever people were holding fell to the floor from their suddenly numb hands. Harry felt Winter flinching every time a prop fell on the floor.

Finally, silence descended over the room. Harry was tempted to open his eyes, but he kept them firmly shut. He hoped Winter was doing the same next to him. Concentrating, he felt out the Clow Card's location. It was relatively far– next to where he'd been dragging the sacks to, it seemed– far enough to give Winter the time to do what she needed without being sent to LaLa Land.

"On the count of three," Harry murmured under his breath. Next to him, he felt Winter shifting slightly, acknowledging.

"One…"

His fist tightened around the Key, ready to flick it over and off his head.

"Two…"

He felt Winter's hand tighten around her wand, getting ready to spring.

"THREE!"

Harry felt Winter dash one way as he jumped to his feet, almost slipping on the hem of his robes. Damned uniform regulations! Trying not to fall flat on his face, Harry sent a stunner he learned from Kero at the Clow Card's general direction, not surprised when it missed it completely. The thing looked about the size of The Sweet Card. He'd need a _doujutsu_ or something to be able to hit it with anything at this range!

"Key of power, show me your true form."

It looked like he'd have to resort to funky summoning techniques…

"I, the one to whom you are bound, command it!"

He was aware of the magic circle beneath his feet, glowing gold and shining even in the light of the room. He felt the power, _his_ power, _Clow's_ power, surging within the Key, resonating with the Cards he carried on his person…

"RELEASE!"

Snatching the red wand out of thin air, he twirled it around between his fingers– he'd gotten good at doing that since he got the Key– slashing it diagonally and holding it out to the side, opposite the holly wand he held in his other hand.

The passing thought came to him that had anyone been watching, that would have looked _really_ bad-ass.

The only thing this needed was a little dramatic wind…

Oh, wait, his robes were still fluttering from the wind the magic circle had produced (why _did_ that happen, anyway?). So, dramatic wind, check.

Now to Capture Clow Card!

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Winter slid the last few feet to Lee's side on her knees, managing to time it so perfectly that she stopped the moment she came to the girl's side. Harry wasn't the only one who knew how to look cool.

Waving her wand over the still form– "_Enervate!_"– she waited.

Nothing happened.

Heart clenching, she tried the spell again and again, hoping she was just not doing it right. Finally, after the eighth try, she had to concede defeat.

"Harry!" she cried to where he was trying to chase the Clow Card and not be put to sleep at the same time. "The spell isn't working! I think the Clow Card's power is too strong!"

----------------------------------------

Harry scowled as he heard this. It must have been because he was still _falling _asleep when Winter had used the spell on him that had cancelled out the effect. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about the Slytherin garbage interfering and getting _this_ Card. She had too many as it was, in his opinion. Of course, in his opinion, _one_ was too many!

"Okay, so take down the Clow Card, and undo the spell," Harry said, sending out Stunners and other curses from his dual wands. "Man, I hope this works…"

Sending out one last Curse with his holly wand, Harry quickly stuck it into his robes, pulling out his deck of Clow cards. Fanning them out in one hand with a practiced gesture– the result of a couple of Yu-Gi-Oh fantasies– Harry stuck the Sealing Wand between his teeth and plucked out the card he wanted. Returning the Cards into his robes, he flicked the chosen Card into the air. Pulling out the Wand from his mouth, he raised it and slammed down on the Card. "WINDY CARD!"

The Card dissolved into yellow threads of magic as The Windy materialized in all her seemingly naked glory. Harry pointed at the darting orb of light. "I know this is getting old, but…"

Windy nodded, looking amused at her Master's apparent embarrassment at calling her for use as a gloried rope. She waved her arms towards the glowing target, sending out the usual streams of yellow wind magic, which the light barely evaded.

"Contain it," Harry said as Winter rushed to his side, clipboard and pen out and writing furiously, head darting continuously between him, Windy, the orb and her clipboard, muttering all the while about getting a voice recorder or a video camera of some sort. "Make a sphere around it and close it off so it can't escape!"

"You're the boss," Windy said sweetly, her arms moving to make circling gestures as she directed her streamers to wrap around at wide area, with the orb in the middle. The streamers fell into place quickly, whirling like a planet-shaped hurricane around their target. Soon, the streamers were too interwoven to for even the small form of the sprite to slip through.

Under Harry's orders, Windy had her construct contract, growing smaller and smaller as Winter watched in rapt fascination, no longer taking notes as she stared at the form with a gleam in her eye. The sprite inside kept trying to pass through the barriers, but was buffeted around by the intense winds and kept contained in it's pastel-yellow prison. It didn't look like it was getting away soon.

"Sleep," Windy muttered to Harry as he was about to raise the Sealing Wand over his head.

The Card Captor blinked, looking at his 'funky summon' curiously. "I beg your pardon?"

Windy jerked her head towards her construct. "_Sleep_," she repeated, emphasizing with another jerk.

"Oh…" Harry said. "Thanks for telling me."

Windy nodded as if it were a matter of course, then smiling over at Winter and greeting. "Lady Winter," she said respectfully.

"Oh, you know who I am?" Winter said, pleasantly surprised. "Well, in that case, would you consent to do an interview with me? I'd really like to get your point of view as to what it's like to work with Harry, what are your opinions of him, and whether you think he's a good kisser–"

"WINTER!" Harry yelled, scandalized. It didn't help that Winter _and_ Windy were both giggling at the blush on his face. He sighed as he was freshly reminded that he'd need to kiss Windy after this…

Deciding to just resign himself to losing pride every time he used a female Clow Card– he wondered why he hadn't done this sooner; it would have saved him… well, he'd have been resigned a long time ago, that was for sure– he raised the Sealing Wand over his head again. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form! Sleep Card!"

Windy slashed her arms to the side, dissolving her construct as Harry's Wand slammed into mid-air into the outline of a card, drawing the dissolving streams of The Sleep Card into it as Clow Reed's magic circle glowed beneath him. Both soon faded, leaving behind a new Card under the end of his wand, which he promptly plucked from the air. Oh, yeah, he thought as he grinned. He still got it!

Looking at the Card briefly– the front showed a seemingly prepubescent girl in a bare-shouldered one-piece holding a crescent-moon topped wand with a purple six-pointed star above her breastbone and a similar smaller symbol on her forehead, with wings on her back; her left ear looked like a giant wing!– he tucked it along with the rest of the Cards and turned to face the two females, a look appropriate for a firing squad on his face. "All right, let's get this over with," he sighed.

The two exchanged glances. Winter gave him a look, one eyebrow raised and looking generally disapproving. It was the kind of look Hermione gave him whenever he did something that exasperated her, although the look was more often directed at Ron when he was being particularly dense or insensitive. It was a not a good look to receive from any female. From your crush…

Windy, however, was looking teary-eyed. Her fists were clenched in front of her chest, shaking with emotion. Her chin was quivering, doing interesting things to her pouty lips. Harry immediately knew that, A) something was wrong and, B) it was somehow his fault.

"Harry Potter, I can't believe you!" Winter said indignantly, hands on her hips with the fingers pointed up, her foot tapping a steady rhythm. "After all that trouble Windy went through to help you…! OOOOHHH!"

Harry winced, taking an involuntary step back. When women made steaming kettle noises, you were in _deep_!

To make matters worse, the tears that were threatening to stream down Windy's face finally did. She made a valiant effort to keep a calm front, then suddenly burst into tears, burying her face in her hands.

"Now look what you've done!" Winter said indignantly, wrapping her arms around Windy and making cute comforting noises while glaring at Harry. "It's all right Windy, it's all right. It's not your fault Harry is an insensitive idiot." That with a glare to the Boy-Who-Lived.

Windy raised a tear-stained face at Harry, quivering pouty lips and all. "I'm sorry, M-master H-har-r-ry. I di-didn't know I w-was such a b-bother. If it's such a chore to you, then you don't have to… don't have to…"

Windy was unable to finish her sentence as she settled for bawling her eyes out, burying her face on Winter's sympathetic shoulder, who went back to making comforting baby noises with a vengeance while casting a redoubled glare in Harry's direction.

Harry, by now, was spazzing.

"No, no! You're not a bother, Windy, really!" Harry said, dry-washing his hands nervously, and looking around and trying to look at anything but at the crying girl (man's Kryptonite). He was so distressed, he didn't notice the wink and grin the two females exchanged. That was quickly disguised as Harry's gaze came their way.

Windy increased the pouting, and seemed to be trying to hide behind Winter. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better, Master Harry," the sprite said, holding tighter on the Winter.

"I'm not lying!" Harry cried frantically, taking a couple of steps over to them, stopping only when Winter made a gesture as if to step back, looking at Harry reprovingly. "Really, I'm not!"

Windy pulled herself from Winter's shoulder, looking at him with one eye, the rest of her face hidden behind Winter's glare. "Really?" she said, sounding like she didn't believe it.

Winter sniffed, quite believably. "Talk is cheap, Potter," she said.

"I mean it," Harry said softly, taking another step forward, then another when there didn't seem to be any opposition. Gently laying one hand on Windy's shoulder, he coaxed her into facing him. Winter glared, but grudgingly let go of her self-appointed charge, stepping behind Harry and scowling like a guard all the time. Once in his blind spot, however, she grinned, giving Windy and approving thumbs up.

"Look," Harry said, trying to sound gentle and reassuring, but unable to keep from coming out a little bit desperate. "You're not a bother _or_ a chore, and I'm really sorry if I made you think so. I was being a jerk, okay? I'm really grateful for all the help you and the other Cards give me. I don't want to do anything to hurt, I promise. Please forgive me?"

A tremulous smile quivered on Windy's lips, and she lay her head on Harry's shoulder, wrapping her arms gently around hi. Hesitantly, he moved to do the same, figuring this was his cue.

Over his shoulder, Windy grinned at Winter, subtlely sending her own thumbs up. The two girls were hard-pressed to keep up the act.

Finally, after composing her face to look teary-eyed but recovering, Windy drew back, facing Harry, her arms still on his shoulders. "Master Harry?" she said, getting the quiver in her voice down pat. "It might be too much to ask, but… I don't want to be a bother…"

Not waiting for her to finish, Harry gently touched her cheek, and leaned forward, cutting off whatever she was going to say. There was a triumphant sparkle in Windy's eyes before she closed them, leaning into the kiss. Behind Harry, Winter was grinning widely as she tried to stifle her giggles and write at the same time.

Windy was smiling demurely as she and Harry finally pulled apart, the latter slightly breathless. "Master Harry…" she said.

Harry managed a small smile through his blush, keenly aware Winter was behind him and probably writing a mile a minute. "You're _not_ a bother," Harry reiterated. "You or any of your sisters. I'd… I'd do it again as many times as you want, if you don't believe me…"

From any other guy, that would have been a really cheesy line that would have earned rolled eyes–at best–and a prompt exit. From him, it was an honest offer, a little boy's way of proving he was being earnest.

"I don't think that's necessary, Harry," Winter said cheerily, before breaking out into giggles, followed immediately by The Windy Card, who had disengaged from Harry and was now doubled over in fits of laughter.

Harry blinked, looking between the two as his mind struggled to catch up to the sudden change of pace. "Wha…? Hey, wait a minute! **What's going on here?**"

The two kept on giggling. Finally, managed enough self-control to point at Harry. "GOTCHA!" they chorused, and fell back into helpless laughter.

Harry blinked a couple of times, putting things together, before he gave a loud sigh and palmed his face. "Women…" he grumbled under his breath.

So distracted was he, he was caught completely unaware as Windy suddenly pounced on him, entrapping his face between her hands as she stuck her tongue deep into his mouth in her signature kiss, dissolving into yellow tendrils of magic as returned to her Card form.

Harry was left blinking as Windy fluttered down to the ground to the sound of Winter's laughter. He sighed. "Women…" he repeated, shaking his head as he bent down to pick up the Card and stuffed it tiredly into his robes. Dissolving the Sealing Wand back into it's Key form, he waited patiently for Winter to stop laughing. That took a while.

Clamping down on her last case of the giggles, she looked up a still slightly blushing Harry, who was trying his best to look annoyed and failing miserably. "You look pretty cute when you're pouting like that," she said, barely managing to hold back more giggles.

Harry glared at her, putting everything he had to keep it from looking like a pout. "That wasn't funny," he said, doing his best to glare.

Winter just grinned at him.

Harry bowed his head. "You know, unless you want to try waking up the Theatre Club all by yourself, you'd better stop it," he said, trying his last card.

It was Winter's turn to pout. "Meanie."

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"I can't believe you two didn't wake me up," Fei was still grumbling days later.

Winter shrugged, looking through the curtain at the audience. "We tried, but The Sleep Card's magic was too strong. Whoa, what a turn out!"

Fei rolled her eyes, knowing she wasn't going to get much more out of Winter now. Still, she made one last shot at it. "Where's Potter, anyway? Shouldn't he be here for the bows at the end, or something?"

Winter shrugged. "At a seat. He said something about a Quidditch practice injury," she said, smiling ruefully as she did so.

Fei raised an eyebrow. "How can you be injured while on a broom, looking around for a flying golden ball?"

Winter laughed. "I think he was trying to get out of being seen. Harry probably doesn't want people to think he's some kind of glory hound who join any club just for attention."

"But people have known he's been helping out at the Theatre Club for days!" Fei pointed out.

Winter shrugged. "Maybe he's shy of being on stage?"

"The only time we go on stage is during the final bows."

Winter shrugged again, checking the time. "Well, we're about to start. Gotta go, people to boss around and all that."

"Yeah, yeah," Fei said, waving a hand dismissively as she began to shuffle off to the side and towards her seat in the audience. She wasn't needed backstage, after all.

Winter turned to leave, then paused. "Lee?"

"Hmm?" the Slytherin said, turning around lazily to look at her.

Winter smiled, then kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for helping out," she said.

Fei blinked in surprise, completely frozen as Winter moved off to boss people around. Slowly, Fei raised a shaking hand to her cheek as she broke out into a full body blush. A wide grin blossomed on her face.

"Yes!" she hissed, pumping her fist into the air, than quickly glancing around from side to side, checking to see if anyone caught the break in her cool. Not spotting anyone, she walked off stiffly, heading towards her assigned seat…

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"How's the Quidditch injury?" a dry voice said next to him.

"Drop dead, lesbian," Harry said casually, not bothering to look at his sudden neighbor.

"Hmm…" was all Lee said. Harry turned to her suspiciously. "What?"

"All right, what's with you?" he demanded quietly.

A smirk was all he got back. "Wouldn't _you _like to know."

That was all the time they had before the show began…

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"Ladies and gentlemen!" Winter greeted from the center of the stage. "Welcome to this year's production by the Hogwarts Theatre Club. We hope you enjoy this year's presentation. I now leave you with the following words of a very wise man: Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!"

The crowd laughed appreciatively, Professor Dumbledore applauding louder than anyone.

As the curtain rose, a voice began to speak from offstage.

"A long, long time ago, in the Transvaal Empire, there was an elite military force, known through out the Galaxy as… the GALAXY ANGELS!"

As the cheesy mock ups of mecha started flying through the air, the Card Captor and his rival were torn between shielding their eyes to spare the Theatre Club the embarrassment or watching with the fascination usually reserved for train wrecks and other large accidents. _This_ was why Harry– and secretly, Lee– hadn't wanted to be on stage for the bows. And while it _might_ be fun to watch 'Galaxy Angels: Onstage!', it would probably be in some distant future when they could look back at this and laugh instead of shriveling in embarrassment.

What else do you think the collection of loons this club was made of would have produced?

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**- To be continued…**

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A/N: I've been watching and reading too much Naruto. Mostly reading.

The comment about Pavarti and Lavender being lesbians comes from how they're often characterized in fics, you know, always closeted together, giggling and stuff. If _guys_ had been doing that…

Windy _is_ taller than Harry, but she technically doesn't have legs, so it's possible for them to be face to face.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone of the following. Please don't sue me.

**----------------------------------------**

Omake: Galaxy Angels: Onstage! 

**----------------------------------------**

A voice could be heard from offstage

"A long, long time ago, in the Transvaal Empire, there was an elite military force, known through out the Galaxy as… the GALAXY ANGELS!"

And after the cheesy opening scene involving boxy mockups of mecha flying through the air, the curtain opens up in the Galaxy Angel's living room. Volcott suddenly strides onstage, waving an official looking letter

"Looks like you have a new mission, girls," Volcott says as all the girls look up from what they were doing. "It says here you're being asked to–"

"What?" Ranpha interrupts, stars beginning to shine in her eyes as she fantasized about the upcoming mission before knowing all the details. "Protect Prince Shiva from a coup d'etat? Be models for some fashion show?"

"… we're being asked to protect a bridge builder on his way back home," Volcott said.

On cue, an old guy carrying a bottle of sake stepped into the room.

"Are these the chicks who'll be taking me home to Wave Country?" the old guys said, taking a swig from his bottle. "Bah, they don't look like much!"

Forte, rather annoyed, started shooting the man, to much chaos following…

So anyway, in the next scene, the six people were walking down a bare country road. Forte was casually lugging a bazooka around like it weighed nothing, Ranpha was complaining about what all this walking was doing to her high heels and wondering why they couldn't just fly there on their mecha, Milfeulle was talking Tazuna's ear off, while Mint and Vanilla were just walking ahead, the former with a smile on her face, the latter with her usual inscrutable expression, dragging NORMAD behind her.

Anyway, everything was mostly right with the world when suddenly… THE TWO DEMON BROTHERS ATTACKED!

"HYAAAAH!" cried Inu-Yasha as he jumped out of a puddle of water and tried to cut up Tazuna with that big-ass Tessaiga of his.

"Prepare to die," Sesshomaru said succinctly, jumping out of another puddle of water.

The two suddenly stopped as Milfeulle seemed to materialize before them, stars and heart in her eyes.

"KAWAIIIIII!" she cried, glomping on to the two. She started fondling Inu-Yasha's ears ("WHY DO PEOPLE FEEL THEY HAVE TO DO THAT!") and rubbing her face on the fuzzy thing wrapped around Sesshomaru's shoulder ("HEY, STOP MOLESTING MY TAIL, NINGEN!").

"Whoa, he's gorgeous!" Ranpha said, and immediately glomped herself on to Sesshomaru. Milfeulle didn't seem to mind.

"It looks like those tow have things covered," Mint said, and the rest of Angel Brigade– and Tazuna– kept on walking.

Eventually, the two other members caught up with them, saying that the two demons' wives had come to pick them up.

So anyway, they kept on walking and eventually made it to Wave country… which didn't look all that poor.

"Are you kidding?" Tazuna cried. "I'm barely pulling down enough as it is to be able to fed my family caviar and champagne! At this rate, we'll be forced to have to eat -_sob_- red wine and escargot! That's why we need this bridge! It'll help us improve our economy and remove the strangle hold of the Nabiki corporation! Champagne and caviar for everyone!"

Coming to a lake, Milfeulle suddenly tripped flat on her face over a perfectly flat and smooth stretch of ground. "WAHH!"

She promptly caused everyone to trip over her. "WWWWAAAAAHHHHHH!"

At that moment, a giant sword came buzzing over where their neck would be–– well, where Tazuna, Forte and Ranpha's neck would have been; the other are too short– and struck a tree.

"Whoa," Mint said, getting up and leaning back on her ankles. "Lucky."

Suddenly, there was a blurring in the air above the giant sword's handle, and a man with waist length silver hair suddenly appears, wearing black leather and lots of straps. He turned around, revealing about half his face, wearing a superior look.

Ranpha was immediately smitten. ""WHOA! WHAT A HOTTIE!

Sephiroth turned to face Angel Brigade, then paused, boggling at… Vanilla? "Hey! I know you! Weren't you on that Penthouse lesbian orgy spread last month? And the one before that? And the one before that? And…"

The rest of the Angels suddenly started backing away from Vanilla, who was looking as serene as ever. "It's always the quiet ones," Forte muttered.

Ranpha was just annoyed. "It's not fair! How come _Vanilla_ happens to attract the new hottie?"

Sephiroth suddenly seems to realized where he is, and pulls the Masamune off the tree. "Sorry Miss Monthly Lesbian Spread, but I have to kill Tazuna and probably your friends now. Nabiki Corporation orders and all that."

Vanilla nodded silently, and all the other girls inched a little away from her.

With a cry, Sephiroth launched himself from the tree, only to meet the barrel of Forte's bazooka. "AAAAAAHHHHH!"

After that, Sephiroth was scrambling wildly around as the Angel's resident crazy shooter started peppering him with rocket propelled grenades.

Finally, Forte managed to score two glancing blows, knocking the Masamune out of his hands with one and knocking him down on the other. Looming over the cowering Sephiroth, the insanely grinning Forte aimed at his head. "Bai bai," she said.

"Aww, do you HAVE to blow off the head of every _bishounen _we meet on a mission?" Ranpha grumbled.

Before Forte could respond or just blow Sephie's head off, a raygun suddenly hit Sephiroth and he keeled over, twitching. Forte, naturally, was mad. "HEY! WHO STOLE MY KILL?"

A man in a mask suddenly appeared. "Terribly sorry," Slade said. "You see, I'm a… um… uh… I'm a ninja? From… his Hidden Village? Right, I'm a ninja from his Hidden Village with orders to kill Sephiroth on sight. Sorry if I stole your kill, but I'm under orders. Now, I'll just go and take his body so I can destroy it and keep the secrets of our village from getting out. Yeah, that's it! Well, see you, bye!"

With that, Slade and Sephiroth's body disappeared.

Mint was incensed. "How come the people around here have absolutely no dress sense?"

The rest of the Angels shrugged, and started walking towards Tazuna's house.

There, they meet Tazuna's daughter, Kasumi, and his son–

"SWEETO!"

"EEK!" BANG!

– Happosai.

Anyway, a few days of being molested later, they suddenly come to the bridge where, surprise, surprise! Sephiroth _isn't_ dead after all, and it turns out Slade is his flunky.

Slade glares at Sephiroth. "How come _I'm_ the flunky?"

Sephiroth flashes his pearly whites, blinding Slade's eye and causing women to swoon. "I look cooler. Plus, do you know how many voting competitions I've won as the number one villain ever? Suck it up, Slade."

Slade grumbled that _he_ had seniority. After all, he's been on the Teen Titans comic books since the… eighties?

"These two again," Forte grumbled, hefting her Bazooka and a Laser Cannon she got from Heero Yuy.

"CHARGE!" Sephiroth cried, and he, Slade, and Slade's army of robots charged, to be met with laser and cannon fire.

After a long time, wherein all the robots are destroyed, Sephie and Sladey are tired and Forte is reloading while Mint, Vanilla, Forte, Milfeulle and Tazuna have a tea party off to the side, a shadowy figure at the head of a mob suddenly appears.

"Well, it looks like the great Sephiroth wasn't able to handle a couple of wenches," the evil Nabiki said, laughing evilly. "I guess it was a good idea I was going to stiff you all. Get them, my half-naked Amazon Flunkies!"

Said half-naked Amazon Flunkies hefted their weapons, when suddenly, there was a cry in the air.

"SWEETO!"

"HEY BABE!"

With that, Nabiki and her hoard of half-naked Amazon Flunkies ran away screaming, with Tazuna's son Happosai and his best friend Ataru Moroboshi in hot pursuit. They were never seen in Wave Country again.

Sephiroth blinked. "Hmm. Looks like I'm out of a job."

Shrugging, he slung the Masamune over his shoulder and walked over to the tea party. "How _you_ doin'?" he drawled to Ranpha. "Wanna make out?"

"YES!" Ranpha said, and the two were off.

"HEY!" Forte cried, incensed. "What about our fight?"

Slade shrugged, then eyed the weapons she was carrying. "Nice guns," he said.

Forte blinked. "Thanks. I customized them myself."

"Wanna talk about it over dinner?"

"Okay."

And the two psychos were off.

Mint, Vanilla and Milfeulle looked at each other. "Orgy?" Vanilla offered.

The two considered. "Sure, why not?" Mint said. "Everyone else is shacking up."

The three disappeared, just as Tazuna started saying. "What a great and glorious battle that was! Now, I can finally complete my bridge! And in honor of this grand day, I'll name it after… um, after…"

Tazuna looks around, and notices everyone else is gone. Ad since he really didn't bother to get anyone's name… he pointed to a kid wearing orange who just happened to be walking by. "You! Hey, kid! What's your name?"

The kid looks confused for a moment. "Um, Naruto."

"From this day forth, this shall be known as the Great Naruto Bridge!"

**----------------------------------------**

End 

**----------------------------------------**

Silly, ain't it?

Up next: Winter gets a hold of The Create Card and writes…wouldn't you want to know? -_snicker_- Hoo boy…

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	20. The Naruto Create Card Adventure! Part 1

A/N: something I've been wanting to do for some time…

_Definitely_ been watching and reading too much **Naruto**. _And_ **Yu-Gi-Oh**.

And now, the much-awaited appearance of The Create Card!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 20, The Glow: The Naruto Create Card Adventure! Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I think the girls are cute. All three are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me. Partially inspired by **The Itch**'s **_For Your Dreams_**, and my own **_Uzumaki Harry_**.

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Harry sighed as he sat on the desk assigned him randomly. Idly, he started writing on the margins of his test paper, thumb-nailing a future scene for one of his fanfics, before he stopped himself, scowling. Writing fanfics was exactly what had gotten them _into_ this mess!

He didn't look up as a _kunai_ imbedded itself on the test paper of the person next to him. Said person and his genin team were promptly kicked out of the room.

Sighing again, Harry though back to how this whole mess had started...

----------------------------------------

It had all started innocently enough. _Really_. Winter had been showing them these things she'd whipped up…

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Harry looked down at the strange device Winter had presented to him, then up at Winter, then at Lee (who was also holding a device similar to what Winter had handed him), then at the device, then at Winter again. "Uh, Winter…"

"Isn't it great?" Winter gushed, grinning widely with the pride of a mad scientist showing off her doomsday weapon of the week. "I just finished them last night! It's got backlighting so it can be used in the dark, and a built-in light! The top is plated to protect the Cards, and I specially molded the mount so it doesn't move around on your arms!"

"That's great and all, Moon," Lee said. "But _what is_ **_it_**?"

Winter blinked, before giving herself a soft knock on the head. "Silly me. I forgot to tell you. It's a deck _holster_."

At their still blank and confused looks, she rolled her eyes. "Here," she said, grabbing the device in Harry's hands and putting it on her own. Closing the shackle-like fastener over her right forearm with a firm 'click', she reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of Duel Monster cards. She slipped the cards into the slot in front, and there was another 'click' as the cards seemed to lock into place again.

Winter grinned. "Now this is the cool part," she said.

With a seemingly practiced double-flick of her wrist, the cards all snapped open, the lower half flicking out one way and the top half going the opposite, coming out in a sort of wide fan shape. Since the cards had been loaded face-up, the names and a small part of the illustration was visible.

"Great, huh?" Winter said, grinning widely with pride. "I made it to hold your Clow Cards. It's got low-level securing Charms on it to keep them from falling off, or getting wet or damaged. The features are still manual since I haven't found an appropriate charm that'll let you activate it on verbal command or anything, but the current mechanism keeps it from opening accidentally. Plus, it looks wicked cool!"

Lee was looking at her holster with interest now, turning it over in her hand, before putting it on her right forearm and locking it into place. Reaching into her robes, Lee drew out her Clow Cards and slipped it into the slot. There was a click, and she smiled. Doing her own double-flick caused the Clow Cards to fan out, the Cards distributed such that they were easily identifiable as well as accessible. "Interesting. Do you think you could modify it so load my _ofuda_ as well?"

"I don't see why not," Winter said thoughtfully, unlocking the holster from her arm and handing it back to Harry, who eagerly clamped it on to his own forearm. "The Clow Cards and your _ofuda_ are about the same size, right?"

While Lee nodded, closing the fan with another double-flick, Harry was admiring the way his holster looked. "Nice paint job," he commented, and indeed, the deep crimson and gold trim of his holster was certainly impressive. Winter had even put a small golden outline of Clow Reed's magic circle on top of where the Card's intersect!

Lee nodded her agree, admiring the green and silver colors of her own holster (hers had a yin-yang in place of a magic circle), before pulling her sleeve down over it, hiding the holster from view. The holster was compact enough to be worn without arousing interest.

"How'd you make these things, anyway?" Harry asked curiously as he 'loaded' his Clow Cards into the slot.

Winter grinned. "Who do you think designs and makes most of the props and costumes for the Theatre Club?"

"Those mecha weren't so great," Lee pointed out.

"Hey, _I_ wasn't the one who made them!" Winter pouted. "You want to get that thing fitted for your _ofuda_ or not?"

Lee smiled as close to apologetically as she ever got as she removed the holster from her forearm and handed it back to Winter.

"What about you, Harry?" Winter asked. "You want anything special done?"

"Nah," Harry said, wondering how he was supposed to take out his Clow Cards. "I think it's perfect the way it is. Although… could you please tell me how to get the Clow Cards out?"

Chuckling, Winter twisted an innocuous stud and gave it a press. The Clow Cards closed from their fan shape. Another twist and press on another innocuous stud, and the Clow Cards seemed to pop out of their slot slightly. Carefully taking them out, Winter handed them to Harry as she depressed a third stud. The slot seemed to collapse flat against the bracer as the outline of the magic circle slid into the center in a sequence that would make the Duel Disks proud. "There you go," Winter said. "Those all have corresponding movements to them, since it's a lot cooler to have them all happen instead of pressing buttons."

Harry held out his arm, admiring the way the bracer looked in it's collapsed form. "I hope they're all as easy as the wrist flick," he said. "I don't think I'll be able to take it otherwise."

"Weakling," Lee jabbed. Harry sent a muted glare at her.

Winter smiled indulgently, looking amused at their antics. "By the way, Harry, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Hmm?" Harry said succinctly as he stuffed the Clow Cards back into his robes.

"Well, I remembered the shape of the thing Windy made to trap The Sleep Card, and I was wondering…"Winter said trailing off, as if unsure what to say.

"Yes?" Harry prompted.

"Have you ever considered teaching Windy how to reproduce the Rasengan?"

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And that's how Harry ended up trying to reproduce a Naruto _jutsu_. An **offensive **_jutsu_.

A few days later, there was a trip to Hogsmeade planned out. Harry, for once, opted not to sneak out and decided to help Windy work on her Rasengan, and maybe Capture a Clow Card without Lee around. Winter managed to wrangle a promise from him and Keroberos to meet up with her and Lee at their tree-topped rise.

Come late afternoon, Harry was sitting back against the trunk of the tree, looking out over the lake and letting himself get hypnotized by the way the water was shining under the low-hung sun. Kero, curled up next to Harry and using his size to block the view of anyone watching from the castle, was reading a manga and chuckling every so often, which was getting on Harry's nerves a little.

Idly, he traced the magic circle on top of his bracer. After a little practice, he'd become pretty good at activating the holster's movement-triggers. He wore the thing nearly all the time, and kept it covered under his long sleeves. Currently, the Clow Cards weren't locked in, as he wasn't really comfortable with sticking them in there for long. Still, he found it fun to practice using some pasteboard he'd managed to get from Winter.

Feeling a familiar presence coming closer, Harry idly reached into his robes and pulled out his Clow Cards, popping the dock open with a gesture and snapping the Cards into place. He pulled his sleeve over the active holster, trying to conceal it.

"Locked and loaded already, Potter?" Lee drawled as she came up within hearing range a little while later. "My, aren't you jumpy."

"I don't trust snakes," Harry said, ready to fan out his Cards at a moment's notice.

"What are you doing here, priss?" Kero demanded as he looked past Harry, a scowl on his face.

"I was invited, plushy," Lee sneered. "What's _your_ excuse?"

As Keroberos seemed to internally debate whether or not to jump Lee and Harry debated whether or not to let him, he caught sight of Winter out of the corner of his eye. She was walking slowly from the castle, head bowed over a book she held in one hand as she wrote furiously with the other.

Sighing, Harry let his head fall back against the trunk of the tree. "She's at it again! I swear, I don't know which is worse; her reading as she walks or her _writing _as she walks!"

Lee looked over her shoulder at the scribbling Ravenclaw. "Looks like she got a new…"

Lee's eyes went wide, and a split second later, Harry and Kero felt it too. The three were suddenly scrambling to intercept Winter, feeling the power that was starting to build up around her book.

"Winter, STOP WRITING!" Kero cried, trying to fly fast enough to reach the girl and stop her.

No such luck.

"Huh?" Winter said, looking up from her writing even as her right hand made a made a certain pushing gesture.

Suddenly, there was a flare of light, and Harry knew, just _knew_ they were in trouble…

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When Harry found himself able to get out of unconsciousness, he very determinedly did not open his eyes. He remembered enough of what had happened to know that, A) he probably wasn't at Hogwarts anymore and, B) the way his luck held, he was probably some chosen one whose coming had been prophesied as a signal of the end of the world and would probably have to spend as much time running away from and fighting the people he was supposed to save as much as the enemy, all the while having to put up with an abusive love interest and multiple girls who have a crush on him, interspersed with epic-scale 'boss' battles he'd probably win because of some power coming by to intervene (which isn't a very reliable way of winning a fight and saving the world, in his humble opinion).

Either that, or he got pulled into some other world for absolutely no reason, with no way of getting back, and completely over his head to boot!

And Harry would have gladly just lay there, pretending he was dead to the world… if someone wasn't currently tickling his nose with a piece of grass! He could have actually kept up the pretense–barely– if said piece of grass hadn't suddenly gone up his nose!

"HEY!" Harry cried, his hand rising up involuntarily to remove the invading piece of flora.

Winter, on the other end of said piece of grass, giggled. Behind her, Lee was smirking at him, idly flipping a _kunai_ in her hands. And behind _her_…

Harry blinked. The apparition was still there. "Who's the blond Sephiroth? And… _what _am I **_wearing?_**"

Now that Harry wasn't trying to reproduce sleep anymore, some things out of the ordinary (more than usual, anyway) about himself were becoming apparent. For one thing, he was wearing well-fitted black cargo pants that were secured tight around the ankles, a sleeveless black shirt, fingerless black gloves with a metal plate on the back and metal stud inserts on the knuckles, various straps and buckles in various places (mostly on his left forearm), bandages on his hands and arms, a… utility belt(?) around his waist, pouches strapped on to his calves, thighs and biceps, and a black trench coat with lots of pockets. Lying next to him was what looked like an absurdly oversized bottle (it was almost as big as he was!) filled with… water? And why was he wearing what felt like… black sandals?

"3…2…1…" Lee counted down.

Harry had enough time to wonder what she was counting down for when he suddenly felt dizzy as _something_ seemed to happen to his mind…

A few minutes later, Harry was rational again, and staring at his hands like he didn't know what to do with them. Slowly, he raised a hand to his forehead, feeling a piece of metal bolted to a cloth there. "You've got to be kidding me…"

He started at the three before him. "_WHAT HAPPENED?_"

The blond Sephiroth, who looked exactly like the **_Kingdom Hearts _**and **_Advent Children_** Sephiroth except he seemed to be slimmer and was wearing deep blood-red instead of black with a holster strapped to his thigh and a pouch at his waist opposite the Masamune, pointed at Winter. "Blame her," he said in a deep but strangely familiar voice.

It took a few moments for Harry to recognize it. "**_KERO?_**"

The Sephiroth clone raised a hand to his chin, posing. "The one and only! Now even cooler and sexier!" the transformed Kero said, light flashing off his teeth.

Harry turned in horror to Winter, who was looking as guilty as the time they'd caught her around Christmas. "_What did you **do?**_" he hissed.

Winter– wearing (Harry now noticed) baggy white pants secured at the calves by bandages, a tank top under a thin plate of armor (which sort of reminded Harry of the armor that Sesshomaru guy wore, except this was slimmer and more feminine) with long, baggy pieces of hose-shaped fabric that functioned as sleeves that went well past her wrists attached to the arching-shoulder parts (there was a hint of something under the sleeves, but Harry couldn't make it out…), two crossed bandolier containing tons of _shuriken_, a giant four-pointed _shuriken_ at the small of her back (it looked almost as tall as she was! How did she manage to crouch on the ground with it on?), and the generic holster and pouch– was looking somewhere between embarrassed and proud. "Well, you see, I was sort of writing a fic…" she said, trailing off.

"'_Sort of writing a fic_'?" Harry repeated.

Winter slipped a hand from out of her ridiculously long sleeves and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Maybe Kero should explain after all…"

"That book we saw Winter writing in," Keroberos said, arms crossed solemnly as he usually did when explaining Clow Card business (although in his current form, the look was more effective), "was The Create Card. It has the power to make anything written in it _real_."

Harry's eyes widened as he immediately realized the implications of that statement. He already suspected what might be going in– it's hard to miss a whole slew of memories swimming around your head. Combine that with what Kero had just said about the Card's abilities and Winter's admission of what she'd been writing…

His head whipped around to look at the silver-haired girl in disbelief, eyes horrified. "**_WE'RE IN A LEMON SELF-INSERT?_**"

At this, Lee's head whipped around, also staring at Winter with a similar expression on her face. Keroberos looked confused as to what they were talking about. Harry envied him.

Even as they boggled, a part of Harry's mind took note of what clothes Lee had been stuffed into. Aside from the pouch, holster, sandals and forehead protector– unconsciously, Harry reached up to touch his own, finger tracing around the leaf swirl– Lee wore camouflage green shirt with a simple breastplate over it (also in camouflage colors), loose green shorts that came above her knees, bandages up and down her limbs and a pair of wrap-around mirror shades. There was a metal bracer on one of her arms and metal guards on her shins. On her back was her sword. For an instant, she looked a lot like a boy, an image that lingered and refused to go away.

Winter was shaking her head frantically, waving her arms in denial. "NO, no! Just a self-insert!"

Harry and Lee shared a sigh of relief.

"I wasn't able to get to the lemon parts."

The two immediately flinched, thanking their lucky stars.

"Moon," Lee said, looking intimidating the way she loomed over Winter like that, her arms crossed. "what exactly did you manage to write down…?"

Winter scratched her head again. "Well, I sort of wrote a beginning and end, and implied things about the middle…"

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After a while, the SI was boiled down to this:

Harry was Potter Haru. His family originated from Mizu no Kuni, leaving some time during the wars that ravaged the country. His family died enroute, but he managed to make it to Konoha, where the Sandaime took pity on him and let him stay at the village.

Winter was Tsukino Yuki. She came from a clan that was annihilated during the attack of the Kyuubi, as all of it's members, shinobi and civilian, volunteered to be part of the delaying action that allowed the Yondaime to use his sealing _jutsu_. She was left in the care of a non-blood relation, who died on a mission when she was ten, leaving her alone.

Lee kept her name (there was really no need to change it, or so Winter a.k.a. Yuki, said). She was an orphan ("Welcome to our world," Harry said) who'd managed to survive by devoting herself to making the clans of her parents regret disowning her just because she was illegitimate. She'd grown up alone with only a dog to be her friend, until the day her pet contracted rabies and she'd needed to kill him in order to save herself from getting ravaged and maybe killed.

And Kero? He was an easygoing half-breed who was an anime and video-game addict, and the heartthrob of all the women in the village too old to go for Uchiha Sasuke (and some who were still old enough).

As a side note, a quick body search revealed they still had their wands and a quick test showed they could still do magic.

"How come you get the good deal?" Harry/Haru complained, glaring at Kero– or, as his form was called (what else?) Sephiroth. "Compared to you, the three of us look like the poster children for angsters everywhere!"

"Take it up with Yuki-chan," Kero smirked, jabbing his thumb at Winter.

"So," Lee said, getting them back on track. "Tsukino wrote her fic on The Create Card, with a beginning and ending but no middle. With that incomplete story, The Create Card did…?"

"It looks like it drew us into some kind of world based on the fic Yuk- _Winter_ wrote," Keroberos said, grimacing. "I'm having the unreasonable and irrational urge to call you by your story aliases."

"Must be an effect of The Create Card," Harry said. "My instinctive desire is to refer to you as 'Sephiroth-sensei', Winter as 'Yuki-chan' and Lee as 'Lee-san'…" _among other things,_ the Card Captor thought, making a mental note to memorize the Japanese insults and swear words floating around I his head.

"Maybe we should just go with it?" Winter/Yuki suggested. "After all, it's not really that big a deal, and if the characters in this fic hear us calling each other by our real names, they'll get suspicious– and potentially kill us."

Strangely, no one shuddered at that. Instead, everyone just pursed their lips, accepting it. Kero/Sephiroth even shrugged.

"So, we're in fic-world," Lee continued. "Next question: how do we get out?"

Everyone looked at Winter/Yuki, who shook her head, waving her over-sleeved arms. "Don't look at me! I just wrote the thing!"

Harry/Haru thought. "I could try Sealing…"

"Worth a shot," Kero/Sephiroth said.

Reaching towards his neck, Harry/Haru was thankful his key, like the deck holster and Clow Cards on his forearm, were still there. "Key of power, show me your true from! I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"

A magic circle and a casual twirl on his fingers later, Harry raised the Sealing wand above his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form! CREATE CARD!"

Harry swung the wand down and the usual light show happened, but…

"HEY! What gives?" Harry/Haru said, annoyed. There was no Card under the tip of his Wand.

"There goes Sealing it," Lee said dryly.

"We must be in it's area of effect or something," Kero/Sephiroth mused. "Like when you were inside The Maze Card."

"So we get out," Lee said. "How?"

All four of them settled into thinking poses, musing on the question.

Winter/Yuki suddenly snapped her fingers. "The story!" she exclaimed.

The other three looked at each other. "What about the story?" Kero/Sephiroth asked.

"From what these two said, they couldn't Seal The Maze until they could get out of it," Winter/Yuki said, looking like she'd had an epiphany. "That meant going through the maze. _Maybe_, if we go through the story all the way to the ending, The Create Card will let us out! I mean, there must be a reason we're like this!"

The three looked at each other again. Kero/Sephiroth shrugged. "It's as good an idea as any," he said.

Fei sighed, rubbing her temples. Idly, she wondered if her cousin would have had these problems if _he'd_ found the Clow Cards. "All right. So… what's the story?"

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"Chuunin exam," Potter muttered, sighing as the three of them walked towards the Academy. "If it's not the beginning, the Wave Country Arc, the Tsunade Search or the Sasuke Retrieval mission, it's the chuunin exam."

"What do you expect, Potter?" Fei sneered, looking past Yuki to direct the expression at the dark-haired boy. "It's not like **_Ranma _**or **_Sailor Moon_ **or **_Wheel of Time_**. There are only so many places a writer can start changing things without completely destroying canon to bits. Right, Tsukino?"

Yuki, however, was staring at Potter in wonder and awe. _Still_. "I swear, Haru-kun, that thing's got to weigh a _ton! At least!_"

Potter shrugged, the movement jarring the oversized water bottle slung over his back. "It feels okay, really. My SI is pretty strong."

"I'll say!"

Fei sighed. She'd been going on about Potter's glorified thermos since he'd effortlessly picked it up in one hand back at the clearing they'd found themselves in, when they'd decided to head out. Sephiroth– she _refused_ to call the plushy 'sensei'!– had gone off somewhere, probably to his house in this fic. And they were about to try to pass themselves off as three Leaf-nin on their way to the chuunin exam.

For a moment, she missed Hong Kong. Crazy things _never_ happened _there! _Well, except for how her female cousins acted when they saw something they called cute, anyway. But she'd always suspected Syaoran got _all_ the brain cells in that brood.

"So, where do you guys want to have lunch?" Yuki said. "Exam's not 'til four, and we know how _that's_ supposed to go, so we might as well burn time."

"Ichiraku?" Potter suggested. "I've always wanted to know what the big deal with that place is."

"It's where Naruto eats, and where the owner will _let_ him eat," Fei said dryly. "There's no mystery beyond that."

"Well, let's go anyway!" Yuki said. "Maybe we'll get lucky and spot Naruto!"

"Don't fangirl him, he'd get a heart attack," Potter said wryly.

The three made their way to Ichiraku Ramen, somehow finding their way through a town they'd never been to or seen in their lives. Yuki and Potter kept exchanging pleasantries, with Fei inserting a dry comment every now and them. She stood slightly apart from the other two, even though she wanted nothing better than to stand between Potter and Yuki. That would look suspicious, after all.

Along the way, she overheard some comments from passing teens and genin who weren't taking the exam that made her raise her eyebrows. From what she could gather, Yuki was somehow a kind of female equivalent of Uchiha Sasuke. Fei couldn't help but chuckle at that. Well, it _did_ make sense, but still…!

They turned the corner into the street where they knew– _somehow_– Ichiraku ramen was located. Yuki pouted in disappointment when she saw the titular character of their present world was nowhere in evidence.

"Tough luck, Tsukino," Fei drawled as they close in on the stand. "Maybe their ramen is decent, at least."

"It is," Yuki said. "We've eaten here before."

And they had, Fei realized. At least, that's what the false memories of her SI persona said. And if she remembered correctly, her usual was…

The old man behind the counter took one look at them and smiled, saying, "One beef, one wanton and one triple beef, triple wanton, coming right up!"

… yup, beef.

When the food arrived (Fei looked in askance and not a little disgust as she watched Potter consume the double triple) the three ate in… well, not exactly companionable, since she and Potter would _never_ be, but a comfortable silence. For the first time since they got sucked into this… world? Pocket dimension? Dream? Fantasy? For the first time, she was actually starting to relax. As much as she let herself relax, anyway.

"Tsukino," Fei said as she finished her bowl.

"Hmm?" girl said, looking up from where she was drinking back the soup.

Fei managed to keep any expressions from coming over her face. She didn't know whether to be disgusted or amused. "What were you _thinking_ when you said you would have made this a lemon?"

Potter, unfortunately for him, snarfed his soup, the liquid coming out his nose. Fei chuckled as Yuki started pounding on his back, handing him a tissue…

----------------------------------------

"Whoa!" Yuki said as Haru and Lee helped her get through the window. "That was FUN!"

She turned around, sticking her head through her entrance and marveling at how she just gotten to the third floor of a building by climbing up the wall. The feeling had been amazing! She could actually _feel_ the chakra coursing through her body as she climbed up, and it was all she could do to keep herself from doing all sorts of things with it.

"Calm down, Tsukino," Lee said dryly as she pulled her away from the window and started walking away, expecting her and Haru to follow her. "If we don't hurry, we'll end up coming in with Team Seven, and I _really_ don't want to be anywhere _near_ Yakushi Kabuto!"

"But Kabuto-sama is so _hot!_" Yuki gushed.

"Hmph," was all Lee responded with.

Yuki rolled her eyes. "She does a great 'Uchiha Sasuke' act," she said to Haru _sotto voce_.

"I HEARD THAT!"

Chuckling along with Haru, Yuki hurried over to catch up with the long-striding Lee, crying, "Hey, wait up, Lee-san!"

Shaking his head in mixed amusement and annoyance, Haru adjusted his glasses as he followed.

They managed to enter room 301 with incident, doing their best to try and blend in with the crowd on ninja already there. This was a bit hard for Haru, since he had a glorified water bottle on his back. But then he wasn't the only one carrying something big. A cursory sweep showed the _ever_-lovable Sabaku no Gaara with his gourd of sand and a bunch of Rain ninja who seemed to be carry tanks on their backs. Some seemed to be carrying umbrellas, and of course there was Temari and her fan, not to mention Kankuro's puppets.

Finally, the three members of Team Sephiroth (Winter hadn't bothered giving them a number) settled down, Haru taking off his load so he could sit down without collapsing the chair.

"Just out of curiosity," Haru said, casually flicking open his bracer-holster and going over his Clow Cards, "do we keep 'ole aconite from making a good impression on Team 7 or what? Just to mess with canon."

"I'd say we try to take his place and be nice to them but…" Yuki shot a glance at Lee.

Lee crossed her arms. "I don't do 'nice'," she said.

Yuki slumped. "Well, I guess _that's_ out. Oh well, we can always meet them in the Forest."

"Why wait?" Haru said. "The two of _us_ are nice. No reason why we can't meet the team, just the two of us. Heck, Lee-san here can come along as long as she's moderately polite."

"Hmm…" Yuki said as she thought it over. "Sure, why not? I want to see Uchiha Sasuke face to face!"

The door opened, and the three of them, like everyone else in the room, turned to look. "Oh, it's just Team Ten," Haru said.

"That means Team Seven's on the way," Yuki said. she stood. "Come on! I want to catch them before Kabuto-sama!"

Haru sighed, picking up his water and slinging it on his back as he followed in Yuki's wake. Behind them, Lee shrugged and decided to go along as well. Haru turned to Lee. "_Why_ do people think Kabuto is any good? I mean, he's a _villain_, for crying out loud!"

Lee shrugged. "How would _I_ know? And why are you talking to me?"

Haru scowled, and turned away.

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Haru sighed again as he recalled how the meeting with Team Seven went, wishing he could dare take a drink from the honkin' big container of water standing next to him, but he knew that aside being full of the blood plasma of dead people, it also contained potent snake toxins. He really didn't feel like using any on his shots of antidote on himself just because he was feeling like a drink.

Naruto and Sakura had been easy to win over. The pink-haired girl and the silver-haired girl had instantly hit it off. So had he and Naruto. Jokers attract jokers, and wasn't exactly in the league of the twins, he _did_ do his share of pranks every now and then. Sasuke had been apathetic to it all, merely sizing them up and seeing what kind of threat they possessed.

Then he'd set eyes on Lee, and suddenly, killing intent was filling the air.

"Lee," he sneered, and Haru's eyebrows rose, internal alarms going off. He knew that tone. It was the same one he used for Lee whenever Yuki wasn't around to hear it, the same one she used on _him_ when Yuki wasn't in earshot.

His alarms grew louder as Lee pulled her face back in a familiar sneer, one he thought once reserved for him. "Uchiha," she said, her voice dripping with frost, acid and malice.

"I'm surprised to see you here," Sasuke said, still sneering. "Shouldn't you be out eating dogs somewhere?"

"Don't you have a brother to kill?" Lee shot back. "Oh, that's right, you're a pathetic weakling, so you don't have a chance in hell. Silly me for forgetting."

Sasuke's face contorted with rage, and he took a step towards Lee, who made no move to back off. Suddenly, there was a blur behind the girl, and Haru stood there, water and all.

"While I can understand how annoying my teammate could be, the killing intent seems to be all out of proportion for her presence," Haru said easily, making no threatening moves, just standing there behind Lee.

Sasuke glared at him. "Back off. This doesn't concern you."

Haru raised an eyebrow, adjusting his glasses ever-so-casually, in case there was a fight. "She's my teammate. This concerns me. Besides," he smiled slightly and he hissed around Lee in such a way that Yuki wouldn't be able to hear, "_I_ was here first, darn it! Find someone else to loathe!"

The container of water on his back shook threateningly, as if to emphasize his words.

"I'm so grateful for your concern," Lee said dryly.

"Just staking my claim," Haru said.

Sasuke-relations had been strained since then.

Lee had probably already finished copying the answers from people with that bloodline limit of hers, and Yuki was supposed to be the smartest girl in their class, equivalent to Sakura. That left him, and he was taking the Naruto route to passing this exam: not writing anything and waiting for the last question…

When Mitarashi Anko came bursting into the room in a shower of glass, Haru was finally able to get the answer to something that had always bothered him about this series: Anko really _was_ topless!

----------------------------------------

After being shown the Forest of Death, the three headed off towards Yuki's apartment, where they knew Sephiroth would be waiting. How they knew where the apartment was when they'd never been there before was best left along.

They found Sephiroth, sans his ten-foot sword (which was leaning against the wall next to him), lounging around on Yuki's couch, reading a manga. The apartment itself was practically otaku paradise. Every inch of wall was covered with shelves, and if the shelves didn't contain shuriken of various forms and sizes, they contained manga, anime statuettes or DVDs. The pasts of the wall left bare and every inch of the ceiling was covered with posters, banners, printouts and laminates of anime characters.

"_This_ is what you did with the entire clan fortune?" Lee said incredulously.

Yuki shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? Put on a bat suit and try to avenge my clan?"

"She has a point," Haru said, trying not to salivate at the sight before him.

"Hey guys," Sephiroth said, not looking up from his manga. "How'd the exam go?"

"Aced it," Yuk said, heading for the kitchen while Haru took of his water bottle and set it down next to him as she sat on the floor. Lee took off her shades, knowing when it was too dark and a stupid idea to wear them indoors.

Sephiroth looked at her. "Weird eyes," he said.

"Blame the writer," she replied, jerking her thumb towards the kitchen.

"I heard that," Yuki said. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Right now, let's talk _jutsus_."

Haru raised an eyebrow. "What about them?"

Yuki sat down on the floor next to them. "You guys wouldn't happen to have memorized any of the hand-seal sequences from the anime, would you?"

"Why do you ask?" Lee said warily.

Yuki grinned. "Well, I sort of memorized the sequence for _Raikiri_…"

----------------------------------------

"I'm starting to miss Hogwarts," Haru said, looking down at the form he held in his hands. "At least there, we didn't have to sign waivers concerning our deaths!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Yuki said as she signed hers with a flourish. "We'll be fine!"

"Easy for you to say," Lee said, signing hers at a more sedate pace. "You're the anti-_Jinchuriki_. We're just garden variety humans with _Kekkei genkai_."

She thrust her form into Haru's hands and after a moment, Yuki followed suit.

"Hey!" Haru said. "How come _I_ have to hand in the papers?"

"You're the token muse," Lee said dryly. Yuki giggled.

Haru scowled, unsure how to respond to that. Instead, he signed his form and muttered off towards the tempt where the chuunin were handing out the scrolls. A few minutes later, Heaven scroll in hand, the three of them were bounding through the treetops.

"Anyone around, Lee-san?" Yuki asked.

Lee's eyes were completely hidden under her mirror shades. She didn't so much as turn her head as she said. "Coast is completely clear."

"Good," Haru said, pulling the Clow Key from around his neck and turning it into the Sealing Wand. he flicked his wrist in what had almost become a natural motion and plucked out two Cards. "Clow Cards, show me your true power! DASH CARD! JUMP CARD!"

The branch below him glowed as the magic circle materialized under his feet and the combined abilities of The Jump Card and Dash Card settled over him.

Lee unsheathed her _jian_ from her back, pulling out a Card she'd tucked in her thigh holster. "FLY CARD!"

A magic circle appeared beneath her as well, and a set of pure white wings erupted from her back. The wings became more substantial looking, it's feathers gaining definition as the circle faded beneath her. Lee gestured with her sword. "Team Seven is that way. If I remember correctly, they should be dealing with that guy who posed as Naruto soon. I'm not sure given that they didn't exactly give timestamps on the anime, but Orochimaru is the next event after that."

"Then we'd better get moving," Yuki said, taking off her ridiculously oversized _shuriken_ from her back and handing it to Haru. "Here. You bring this. I might accidentally stab Lee-san if she carries me with it on."

The two blinked. "Huh?" Haru said, staring at the _shuriken_ in his hands. It would not look out of place if used as a small windmill. "Run that by us again."

In answer, Yuki suddenly jumped into Lee's arms, who caught her by instinct, looking stunned at the turn of events. Yuki's oversized sleeves went around Lee's neck. "Lee-san can fly, so it's better if she carries me. We're girls, so we're both light. You, on the other have, have that water bottle of yours, not to mention being restricted to Dash and Jump. It's better if you take the lighter load, and I assure you, my _shuriken_ is lighter than _I_ am."

Haru through up his hands, nearly falling over from the _shuriken's_ momentum. "Fine!"

Yuki nodded. "Good." She turned to Lee, who was about a foot away. "Come on, let's get moving!"

Lee to her credit, wasn't as red as she usually was, although her head looked a bit mechanical as she nodded. Without a word, she lifted off, heading towards the general direction of Team Seven as Haru followed below…

----------------------------------------

Some time later, Lee landed on a branch and put Yuki down, signaling a halt.

"What is it?" the silver-haired girl asked as Haru landed next to them and handed her _shuriken _back to her.

"We're too late," Lee said, her shades reflecting what little light managed to filter down to their level as she stared off into the darkness. "Orochimaru's managed to separate them."

Yuki's lips compressed into a thin line. "So it's started. Alright, one of us has to go help Naruto. The others need to keep Sasuke from getting Cursed Sealed! Or, as I like to call it, getting a snake-hickey."

"Nice name," Haru said dryly. He turned to Lee. "How far away are we?"

"I'll go for Naruto," Lee said. "Uchiha doesn't like me. He might not accept our help if I show up. And besides, Orochimaru might go after me…"

"He shouldn't have any idea about you…" Yuki said, looking concerned.

"Better safe then sorry," the girl in green said.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Haru demanded. "Point us in the right direction then go!"

"Head that way," Lee said, point down the line they'd been traveling with her sword. With that, she opened her wings and flew, heading a bit off to the side. Haru and Yuki were already moving, the latter holding the former's hand while she held her _shuriken_ with her other, letting herself get pulled along. Soon, the three lost sight of each other.

"Wish I could be Lee right now," Haru said.

Yuki looked at him curiously. "Why?"

Haru turned to her, a grave look on his face. "You realize we're about to face off with _Orochimaru!_"

----------------------------------------

Fei arrived just in time to see Naruto about to get eaten. Ditching her glasses, she frantically began making the necessary seals, not giving herself time to wonder if this was such a good idea. An instant later, there were twin explosions of smoke as the _Kawarimi_ took place, and Naruto suddenly found himself standing on the branch Lee had been.

Being swallowed was no a pleasant experience. Luckily for Fei, snakes mainly swallowed their pray whole, as they lacked the teeth and jaw for proper chewing. This, it was straight down and in for her. It was past the throat and straight into the esophagus, completely blind. Somehow, she didn't know if that made it better or worse.

Gritting her teeth, Fei activated her eyes…

----------------------------------------

Naruto stared in horror as the girl was swallowed in his place, unable to comprehend what had happened. The snake gulped, a bump on it's throat rolling down, before setting it's sight back on Naruto.

Frantically, he raised his hands up, preparing to unleash a round of _Kage Bunshin_, but before he could, the snake suddenly stopped. If he didn't know better, he would have said the snake had an alarmed look on it's face.

"What the–?" Naruto said, hands coming down as he started at the snake, which had started writhing in intense agony. It thrashed, rubbing itself against a tree– thankfully not Naruto's–as it attempted to relieve itself of it's discomfort, but to no avail.

Suddenly, a part of it's throat seemed to bulge out, before black flames burst out of it's skin. More flames suddenly erupted from it's mouth, touching the branches above it and immediately destroying them. No burn, no wait. Just touch and go. The Black flames quickly spread over it's body until, with a 'poof', the snake disappeared, taking with it a majority of the black flames.

From out of the mass of dark fire and summoning smoke, a figure suddenly began to plummet to the ground, seemingly untouched by the stygian tongues. Naruto dashed towards it, taking care to avoid the black fire that was even then beginning to disappear. He'd seen what those things had done to the trees, and he had no intention of seeing if the same would happen to him!

Catching the falling figure, Naruto immediately bounced up to a higher branch. "Hey! are you alright?" she said, trying to shake the girl awake.

The girl moaned, reaching into a her pocket and pulling out… a pair of mirror shades? "You're friends are in trouble…" the girl managed to say as she shakily put the glasses on.

Naruto was confused for a moment, before realizing the girl was talking about Sakura and Sasuke. "They are? Where?"

Something weird seemed to happen to the girl's face, but Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it. She raised a slightly trembling hand and pointed. "There," she managed to say, her voice sounding weak, like she hadn't had slept in days. "My friends are with them."

Naruto nodded, and was about to bound off when a weak hand took suddenly gripped his pant leg. "Wait…" the girl said, who looked like she was struggling to get up. She raised her head, and even though he couldn't see her eyes, he could tell they were looking into his.

"Take me with you…"

----------------------------------------

**- To be continued...**

----------------------------------------

A/N: If this doesn't get me reviews, nothing will…

A reminder. This all happens within the confines of The Create Card, which is kind of like Castle Oblivion in **_Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories_**. Anyone care to guess what the three of them (and 'Sephiroth') can do now (Fei's seems obvious, but it's actually not…)? Kero's self-insert as a Sephiroth-clone… –_BWAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAAAAA!_–

The deck holsters are either magic or rely on simple mechanisms that don't get messed up by magic, take your pick.

Disclaimer: I don't own, please don't sue

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Omake: Rejected Concepts 

----------------------------------------

"Why do I have a beak?" Lee said, glaring down at her bright yellow beak. She blinked as a sudden breeze made her aware of something. She looked down and freaked. "WHERE ARE MY PANTS?"

Harry stared at the nose that had taken up forty percent of his field of vision. "You've gotta be kidding me…! I'm the CARD CAPTOR! WHERE"S MY DIGNITY?"

"Shut up, 'Goofy'," Lee growled. "At least _you_ get to wear pants!"

Kero looked down at himself. Big bulbous shoes, coat and tails, top hat, umbrella… "What the heck am _I_ supposed to be?"

Winter just grinned, flipping her Keyblade up in the air and catching it on it's return arc. She posed. "COOL! WATCH OUT HEARTLESS! YOU ARE _SO_ TOAST!"

----------------------------------------

"Why do I have long hair?" Lee said, tugging on her ponytail. She paused as she noticed something else. "And why don't I have fingers?"

Harry, meanwhile, was spazzing. "NO! I'M A GIRL!"

Winter was just flying around, giggling in true Bubbles fashion and shooting out occasional eyebeams. "WHEE! This is fun!"

Kero looked down at himself, taking in the white lab coat and pipe. "Well, it could be worse…"

"AND WE'LL BE FIGHTING CRIME, TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD. HERE WE COME JUST IN TIME… **THE POWERPUFF GIRLS! POWERPUFF!**" Winter belted out.

"I'm a girl…" Harry whimpered.

----------------------------------------

Kero looked down at herself. "Okay, I'm green, I'm naked, and I've got these two weird knives stuck in my belt. What am I?"

Lee was seriously considering using the katanas on her back. "Moon…" she growled.

Harry looked down at himself, and sighed. "Well, I guess it could be worse…"

"COOL!" Winter said, spinning her nunchuks around. "I got the great one!"

"Great?" Lee said. "By what criteria?"

"TEENAGED MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, HEROES IN A HALF-SHELL… **TURTLE POWER!**"

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"AAAHHHHH!" Harry cried. "I'M A GIRL!"

Lee blinked at her appearance, then discreetly patted her… um, _his _pants. "Why am I a guy? And why are my eyes yellow?"

"AAAHHHHH!" Winter cried, spazzing out and clutching her long hair. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BEAUTIFUL SILVER HAIR?"

Lee looked at her closely. "I don't know… the purple hair and eyes looks good on you."

Kero looked down on himself. "Why haven't _I_ changed?"

"Oy," a tall guy with brown hair said. "Better hurry, Kajuu, or you'll be late."

For some reason, Harry got mad. "I AM NOT A MONSTER, ONII-CHAN!"

Lee and Winter looked at her, blinking. "How is this guy your brother?" Lee said.

Harry blinked. "I… have no idea…"

"Touya," a silver-haired youth said pleasantly, coming behind the other guy and patting his shoulder. "Stop teasing Sakura-chan."

The four looked at each other, and wondered what the heck was going on…

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End 

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In the next chap, I'll still be using their aliases, so get used to them. It's not that hard…

Coming soon: Winter versus Kiba! Fei versus Neji! And… GASP! Harry versus GAARA! But first, they have to deal with Orochimaru! Stay tuned!

Please review, C&C welcome. Anyone care to do fanart of the outfits? I'd try, but I suck at drawing without a template.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	21. The Naruto Create Card Adventure! Part 2

A/N: finally an update. Man, I thought summer would end with me _never_ getting this out…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 21, The Move: The Naruto Create Card Adventure! Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Yuki and Haru didn't think about it. If they had, they probably would have realized they were committing 'suicide-by-confrontation-of-vastly-superior-forces' and chickened out. However, Haru was a Gryffindor, known for their great, sometimes foolhardy, and occasionally suicidal, courage in the face of nearly anything, especially snakes. And Yuki… well, she was high on chakra, _shuriken_, and the fantasy of beating Orochimaru into a pulp.

Hey, this was _her_ self-insert, after all.

Thus, the minute they caught sight of Orochimaru in his Grass-nin disguise, they didn't pause, they just attacked. It was a very good thing the false memories that came with their SI personas integrated so well with their own. The memories of working as a team let them move almost as if they actually _had _planned something.

Bouncing off a trunk, Haru twisted in midair, launching Yuki at the snake-sannin. The girl threw at least a dozen shuriken at the snake as soon as she got her hand free, causing Orochimaru to back off from Sasuke and Sakura. Landing in front of the two, she immediately flicked one of her spinner mechanisms out of her sleeve, locking it into place on the hole in the center of her uber-_shuriken_.

"What are you two waiting for?" Haru yelled as he bounced off a tree trunk. On his back, he could feel the cap of his bottle loosening. "MOVE!"

"And who are you, little ninjas?" Orochimaru said, casually drawing another _kunai_ from his pouch.

Yuki managed a cocky grin. Actually, knowing her, it probably wasn't much of an effort. "We're going to kick your ass!"

She made a tugging gesture with her left hand, and the _shuriken_ she threw returned, pulled to her by the Kankuro-esque chakra strings in her hand. Haru dropped down next to and slightly behind her, _kunai _in hand. The bottle cap popped off completely. He shrugged his shoulder, letting the bottle fall of his back and settle down on the branch they were standing on. He eased his shoulders, getting used to the strength within.

Sakura finally found the ability to speak. "Yuki-san? Haru-san?"

"Hey, cutey," Haru said, wincing as the instinctive words rolled off his tongue. Why, oh _why_ did Yuki have to make him the town flirt? Not that he didn't enjoy the blush that Sakura suddenly developed, or the way she suddenly became interested in the weave of her dress, or the way Sasuke was glaring at him–

Haru blinked and did a double take. Yup, there was definitely something smoldering in the Uchiha's eyes as he stared at him. Haru made a mental note to ask Yuki if this fic was SasuSaku.

"What are you two doing here?" Sasuke demanded.

"We're here to help," Yuki said cheerfully. "You know, village unity and all that."

"We're supposed to be fighting _against _each other!"

"You really want to take this guy alone?" Haru said dryly. "Yuki, get ready!"

With that, Haru charged forward, _kunai _in hand. Behind him, Yuki launched another barrage of _shuriken_ to cover him as he charged after Orochimaru. A split second later, Sasuke joined in…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Naruto bounced along, slowed slightly by Lee's weight. Whatever she'd done to the snake, it must have been a doozy to leave her so weak. Still, she was recovered a little, but not enough to move on her own.

"Faster!" she said. "They've already engaged the enemy!"

"How do you know that?" Naruto demanded looking at her sideways.

A ghost of a smile flitted over Lee's face. "That's my secret," she said. "Now step on it!"

A blast of killing intent washed over them, and Naruto nearly stumbled at it's intensity. A break in the leaves, and suddenly, they were there. Haru had been knocked out, multiple lacerations on his arms and new nicks on his bracer holster. Blood trickled from his mouth, and a _kunai_ was sticking out his shoulder. Sasuke was slightly less bloody, but looked winded, and Sakura knelt beside him, looking terrified. Before them stood Orochimaru, still in disguise. There was no sign of Yuki, although her shuriken were everywhere.

Lee was suddenly pushing away from Naruto, charging at the lone Grass-nin as her hands began to make a succession of Seals. A sound Team Seven had only heard once in their life started to crackle in the air.

"Wha…?" Sasuke said eloquently, turning in time to see Lee charging past him, her right hand crackling with lightning.

"_Raikiri!_" Lee cried as she stabbed at the nin, who tried to dodge, a surprised look on his face. He wasn't fast enough, however, and the high-speed technique tried to rip a hole into his chest.

Two things happened at the same time.

Lee stumbled suddenly, still not fully recovered from her encounter with the giant snake. The nin she was facing managed to use that time to twist out of the way, partially avoiding the strike, but still managing to get a chunk torn out of his shoulder.

The technique used up, Lee suddenly fell over, falling off the branch she was standing on and beginning to plummet to the ground.

"NO!!!" Naruto cried, helpless to do anything but watch as the green clad girl fell, vanishing into the darkness below.

The nin suddenly started to laugh, shoulders shaking in twisted mirth. "Foolish children. It looks like you defeated that giant snake, Naruto-kun."

Naruto stared hard at his enemy…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Yuki managed to catch up to Fei, catching her and carrying her somewhere safe. As soon as she'd made sure of her friends vitals, she was off again, back to where she'd been observing the battle. She watched as Orochimaru summoned another of his snakes, winced in sympathy as Orochimaru's seal tagged Naruto's belly. Unconsciously, her hand rose to her stomach. Lucky it wasn't her. She was going to need every drop of chakra she had if she intended to face off against the snake sannin.

Idly, she wished she could retrieve her _shuriken_–the chakra strings were still in her grasp– but that would give away her position. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have a couple of thousand still tucked away, ready to be summoned at a moment's notice.

Still, she really wished she could summon her _shuriken…_

Oh, Sasuke's eyes just went Sharingan. That was her cue. She activated the spinner in her hand, feeling it whir silently before she shut it off, nodding in satisfaction. Inside, she could feel her tenant's power ready to use.

Snapping the spinner into place at the center of her over-sized _shuriken_– or, as Haru liked to call it, her Buster Shur– she got ready to move in case Sasuke and Orochimaru's fight happened to come her way. She didn't want to be caught in the crossfire…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Orochimaru grinned as he made the seal. His neck shot out, suddenly elongated fangs ready to pierce the Uchiha's skin. His teeth were inches from Sasuke's neck…

His danger sense screamed, and he broke off the attack, pulling back just in time to keep himself from being decapitated by a _shuriken _bigger than a helicopter's tail blades flying at supersonic speeds.

"Aren't you forgetting about us?" he heard a voice say as his head drew back and settled on his shoulders. Oh. He'd been wondering where she was…

About four-dozen copies of the girl in white were suddenly standing in front, behind and beside the last two members of Team Seven. His peripheral vision told him that more were busily working to free Naruto where he'd been nailed to a tree.

One of the copies caught the _shuriken_ on it's return arc, spinning a revolution or two before settling to a halt and snapping it in place on her back. All of them suddenly threw their arm to the sides, and Orochimaru suddenly found himself facing an army of girls wielding swords, knives, Dramon Killers, katars, axes, and other assorted weaponry.

"Get him!" one said and the whole bunch charged…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Meanwhile, the _real_ Yuki and four clones were doing their best to carry away an unconscious Naruto, a knocked-out Sasuke (he'd tried to resist and had earned a Buster Shur's flat side to the head for his troubles), an incredibly beat-up Haru, a chakra-drained Fei and a shaking Sakura as far away from the battle sight as possible. She could already hear her Kage Bunshins exploding in mass quantities behind them. A tick later, and then the big explosions she'd been waiting for occurred. It seemed Orochimaru finally got around to the ones she'd covered from head to toe with exploding tags…

"Naruto…" Sakura said, striding next to the clone carrying the orange-clad boy. "Naruto, wake up…"

"Don't bother," Yuki said as gently as she could. Sakura turned to her, and she smiled comfortingly. "That bastard back there did a number on him, but he'll be fine. It's best if we let him rest."

At Sakura's still reluctant expression, Yuki added, "Don't worry. I'm training to be a medic-nin," she lied. "He'll be fine…"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Orchimaru barely managed to walk away, clothes smoking and smelling as if he'd been cooking at a barbecue. It was in this state that Anko found him…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

_Much later…_

"I sacrifice Skelengel as tribute to bring out Dark Magician girl and place three cards face-down. Your move," Yuki said in a sleepy voice.

Sakura looked down at her cards, then at the field. Finally, she activated one of her magic cards. "I activate black hole and wipe out all the monsters on the field."

Yuki winced. "Damn."

"I then set down Doron and use his special ability to bring two of him on the field. End turn," Sakura said a bit smugly, before ruining it by yawning.

Yuki looked through her hand, before putting down a Dharma Cannon. She didn't attack, though. That would still leave her with no monsters to Sakura's one in the next turn.

Sakura smiled, and Yuki knew she was toast. "I sacrifice my Dorons to bring out the Blue Eyes White Dragon! Attack the Dharma Cannon."

Yuki winced, doing the calculation, then sighing. She was out of Life Points.

Sighing, Yuki threw her hand down and started reshuffling her deck. "I really wish these four would wake up already."

Sakura nodded, before stifling another yawn. "You think we should try to wake them up?"

Yuki shook her head. "Not yet. They'll probably try to cut us up for doing that. Lee-san's particularly sword-happy in the morning. Do _you_ want to meet the business end of the _jian_ of hers?"

Sakura grimaced. "I'll pass."

Yuki looked over her shoulder at the clearing. "Incoming squirrel," she said, launching a _shuriken_.

_THWACK!_

And the Sound-idiots were due any minute now…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Sakura was asleep when the three Sound genin showed up. Yuki made sure of that.

"So, you idiots want Sasuke, right?" she said, not opening her eyes as she reclined against one of the roots that made up their shelter. "Sorry, but you can't have him."

"You're still awake?" Kin said, sneering. Yuki wondered why most villains expressions were limited to sneers.

Yuki casually got to her feet, popping her joints and stretching her arms, feeling the trigger mechanisms of the launch devices strapped to her arms. "Oh, I'm very much awake," she said, sounding confident. This was _her_ story, after all. No one can beat you in your own story. "Come and get it, losers."

Yuki smirked as Dosu noted the trap and made the three jump. Just like Sakura, she cut the string behind her, causing the giant log to drop. Unlike Sakura, however…

Yuki covered her ears as an explosion occurred overhead, sending the three Sound-nin crashing to the ground, slightly smoking and smelling like a barbecue grill. She'd always wondered why canon Sakura hadn't slapped explosive tags on the thing. Yuki made a slow count and raised a hand in greeting at no one. "Hey, Rock Lee-san!"

The spandex-wearer suddenly appeared, a squirrel on his shoulder. He took one look at her and…

"Oh, beautiful angel!" Lee– er, _Rock_ Lee– said.

Yuki winced, realizing there was a downside to writing herself as Konoha's female heartthrob…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Haru wasn't much of a morning person, especially when the night before was very unpleasant. Thus, it was no surprise that when he found himself swimming towards consciousness, he made a valiant effort to go back to drowning in sleep, back to his dreams and restfulness. And he would have too, if it weren't for the fact that…

"_ZANKŪKYOKUHA!_"

"Too slow! _FALLING STAR TECHNIQUE!_"

Haru groped under his head, trying to pull his pillow over his head, only to realize he didn't _have _a pillow. There was, however, a nice log he nearly bloodied his nose on when he tried to turn over. Reaching blindly into his utility belt, he pulled out a small bomb and blindly threw it in the general direction of all the noise. "Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep over here!"

He ignored the cries of "WATCH OUT!" and "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" followed by a large explosion as he tried to turn over, one arm firmly clamped over his ear to block out the noise. Honestly, couldn't a ninja get any sleep around here?

Haru frowned in his pseudo sleep. Wait… what?

Then the memories of yesterday hit his 'not-quite-using-all-it's-RAM' brain. Oh…

Sighing, he rolled back over on his back, feeling around for his over-sized water bottle. When he couldn't find it, he opened his eyes, then wiped the sleep gunk off them. Hmmm, no water. Must have left it where they fought Orochimaru…

And speaking of fighting…

He turned over to look out the break in the roots. Team Ten was standing before it, their back to him. Past them, he could see Rock Lee occupied with… Kin and Zaku? Yes, Kin and Zaku. Yuki was fighting Dosu, the oversized Buster Shur strapped to her back not impeding her at all as she slashed at Dosu with the katars strapped to her forearms, their blades shining in the light. The bandaged Sound-nin was trying to get his speaker around to bear on the girl, but she was moving too fast and too erratically. The exposed bark of numerous trees gave evidence to several misses.

Haru blinked, thinking back on what he'd just thought, and shook his head. A year ago, he was fairly sure that was something he'd never think of in a situation outside of a fanfic.

But then, technically they were _in_ a fanfic…

And all this lazing around wasn't helping. Taking a quick glance, he noted Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, and… Sakura? What was _she _doing…? Any way, the four of them were unconscious beside him. He'd already felt his body protest slightly as he'd moved, but at least it didn't feel like the wasteland of pain it had been yesterday after he'd fought Orochimaru. He could fight… he thought.

He just wished he had his water bottle with him…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Yuki had time to grin as he heard a distinctive noise begin to rise, before back flipping over Haru as he charged Dosu, the _Raikiri_ crackling in his hand as he charged the Sound-nin. Caught by surprise at the sudden change in tactics, Dosu wasn't able to evade as the lightning-charged fist struck the speaker on his forearm briefly, knocking him back to slam against a tree.

Yuki landed a perfect one-pointer behind Haru, doing a little pirouette as she snapped the katars back up her sleeves. "Hey, sleepy head," she said cheerfully, a grin on her face as she pulled out her Buster Shur and threw it between Rock Lee and his opponents, causing the three to move away.

Haru gave a limp smiled. "Hey. Uh, sorry about the bomb."

Yuki waved it away. "No big. Now, let's show these losers what happens when you mess with Team Sephiroth!"

"You'll need me for that," a tired-sounding voice said.

Haru and Yuki turned around. Behind Ino-Shika-Cho, who were also looking at the speaker, a sleepy looking Lee was rubbing her eyes with one hand while she pulled her sword off her back with the other. "Lee-san!" Yuki exclaimed, while Haru made a sound reminiscent of a growl at the back of his throat. _Why_ did she have to wake up _now_?

Lee purposely moved past Team Ten as Rock Lee _gallantly_ handed Yuki her Buster Shur back, who was trying not to look too freaked out at the hearts-eyes Rock Lee was sending her. Lee growled as she watched the self-proclaimed reincarnation of the azure beast of Konoha try to make the moves on Yuki. "Do you mind leaving my teammates alone, fuzzy eyebrows? Although if you really have to hit on someone, do Potter. He needs a boyfriend."

Rock Lee turned as green as his spandex at the suggestion, while Haru settled for throwing a _shuriken_ ("Hey, that's mine!" Yuki pouted indignantly) at the brown-haired girl, who blocked it with her sword. "Oh, keep your opinions about my love-life to yourself, _Yurizoku_," Haru said.

The two immediately flicked their eyes to Winter, who thankfully wasn't paying attention because she was trying to keep an eye on Rock Lee. Ino-Shika-Cho and the Sound-genin, however, raised their eyebrows in interest.

_Interesting,_ Ino thought.

_Troublesome,_ Shikamaru, of course.

_Yurizoku? Is that tasty? _Chouji wondered.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Lee growled as she handed Yuki her _shuriken _back and pushing Rock Lee away ("Stay out of this or else!" she threatened), taking her place next to the girl with Haru on the other side.

The three faced the Sound-nin, who had regrouped across the clearing. Dosu's speaker was cracked, but still looked functional. Zaku was flexing his arms, while Kin held a _kunai_ in one hand and _senbon_ in the other.

For a moment, the two teams just looked at each other. Then, they moved.

Haru reached for the Key around his neck. "Key of power, show me your true form…"

Lee was faster. "FIGHT CARD!"

Zaku's hands snapped up. "_Zankūkyoha!_"

Dosu raised his speaker. "_Kyōmeisen!_"

Kin threw her belled needles.

Yuki made a seal. "_Kage Bunshin no jtsu!_"

One of Yuki's clones got struck by Dosu's attack and immediately puffed back into smoke as the three members of Team Sephiroth scattered to avoid the _Zankūkyoha_, Haru using his now-formed Sealing Wand to bat aside Kin's bell as Lee sent Fight to charge Kin. The Clow sprite attacked the long-haired girl, her speed causing her form to blur as Rock Lee looked on jealously. The dozen or so Yukis left reached behind their backs, unsnapping their Buster Shurs and twisting where the blades intersected, making the things fall apart into two huge blade-staffs that looked very much like FFIX thief swords. Most of them charged Dosu, while one each backed up Haru and Lee.

"Clow Card, show me your true power! WINDY CARD!" Haru said, summoning the yellow sprite. He pointed at Zaku. "_ATTACK!_"

"_Zankūkyoha!_" Zaku said, palms out as he sent the blasts of air.

Windy smirked condescendingly as she wove yellow threads of magic into a shield, the _jutsu_ simply dissipating on it. Haru grinned. "Did you get that?" he asked.

Windy nodded.

"Oh, good. Windy, _Zankūkyoha!_" he said. It was Zaku's turn to gulp and run as Windy raised her palms in imitation of him and sent out the cutting blasts of air as Haru's nearly-villainous laugh ("KU KU KU KU KU!") echoed through the clearing.

"Me again," Yuki said cheerfully as she and her clones slashed at Dosu with their thief sword-like blades, not giving him a chance to use his speaker. "Wanna see how long it takes me to humiliate you this time?"

Kin was too busy being beaten to a pulp by Fight to participate in witty banter.

"_Raitei Shourai!_" Lee said as Fight punched the Sound-_kunoichi_ into the air. The lightning struck her during the hang time.

Flipping in perfect tandem, Fight and Lee kick-slammed Kin into a tree. She landed on top of an exposed root. A moment later, Zaku slammed into the same spot on the tree with an accompanying cry of "Rasengan!" from both Haru _and _Windy. He landed on top of Kin. He was soon followed by the last of the Sound-genin as Yuki and her clones pin-balled Dosu into the tree. He barely managed to land on his feet, swaying and nearly falling on top of his teammates anyway as Team Sephiroth landed in front of him, Haru, Windy, Yuki and Fight looking very smug. Lee's expression was hard to make out with those mirror-shades of hers, but her stance was more self-assured than usual. "So, you wanna continue this or will you leave your scroll and scram?" Yuki said.

Growling as best as he could, Dosu threw the scroll at them as he kicked Zaku awake, unceremoniously and not quite gently picking up Kin. In an instant, they were running away.

Yuki giggled. "Well, that was fun."

"Yuki-san!" Rock Lee suddenly said, giving them the thumbs up and making Yuki suddenly shiver. "That was a wondrous performance! Truly, you are blessed with the power of youth!"

Haru snickered as Yuki flushed. _Let's see how she does being on the receiving end of one of those things…_

Lee just shook her head.

"AHHH!" someone cried, and everyone jerked in the direction of the noise. Sakura was staring in horror at the long threads of pink hair in her hands. More pink strands lay scattered on the ground around where her head had been, obviously cut off by _shuriken_. "**WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR?-!-?**"

Everyone looked a Yuki, who was looking pretty embarrassed. One hand was scratching the back of her head. "Eh, heh he… looks like I wasn't watching where I threw those Falling Stars of mine…"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

After Ino helped Sakura re-style her hair and Lee's teammates came to take him away (but only after Lee and Neji had tried to glare holes into each other), Team Seven and Team Sephiroth stood looking at each other, both teams uncertain as to what to do.

Nervously, Yuki handed Sakura the scroll they'd taken from the Sound-trio. "Here," she said as the other girl blinked in confusion. "Something to replace that scroll of yours that got burned."

Sasuke scowled, although it was mainly directed at Lee, who was giving as good as she got. "We don't need your charity."

Yuki sighed. "Look, you can fight us for it, but that would be a big waste of energy we'll all probably need to get the _other_ scrolls we need."

Haru nodded. "Not that it'll be a problem. I already have an idea of where we'll get the scrolls from."

Lee raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she said sarcastically.

"Yeah. You're going to _love_ this one," he drawled, smirking. That was actually true; she _would_ like this little idea.

"Who exactly do you plan to get the scrolls from?" Yuki asked.

Haru smiled. "Aconite."

Yuki and Lee blinked, before Yuki pouted in disapproval as Lee grinned savagely.

"You're actually right, Potter," Lee drawled. "I _do_ like that idea."

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

Haru and Lee snickered in a manner that would send creeps up a normal person's spine. Sadly no one around was normal. "Don't worry, just leave this to us," Haru said, grinning. In a blink the two were gone, leaving Yuki alone with Team Seven.

Yuki sighed. "I almost pity the guy…"

"Who?" Sakura asked, wondering what the pale-haired girl was talking about.

Yuki waved the other kunoichi off. "Never mind; you don't want to know…"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Not so long later, Yuki and Team Seven were sitting huddled around a fire, watching as food cooked, when a rustling sound suddenly emanated from the underbrush. Sasuke was up in an instant, _kunai_ in hand, while Naruto fell over himself trying to look cool.

"Who's there?" Sasuke demanded.

The brush parted, revealing Kabuto with a disarming smile on his face. "Oh, hel-"

With a cry, the Fight Card, Haru and Lee fell on top of him, and Yuki winced as she heard the cries of "_Rictusempra!"_, "_Petrificus Totalus!_" and "_FIGHT CARD TWO HUNDRED HIT COMBO!_" She didn't want to know when Lee and Fight had found the time to make that up…

"I _so_ don't know those people…" Yuki muttered as she tried to cover her face, flushing in embarrassment. Oh, if anyone on the Kabuto-sama fanclub found out about this, she would be _so_ dead.

"VICTORY!" Haru declared, waving the matching set of scrolls he'd plucked from Kabuto's pouch in the air.

"OH YEAH!" Fight yelled, punching at shadows as she danced on top of Kabuto. "YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME? YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME? COME ON, YOU LITTLE WORM! COME ON! I DARE YA!"

Yuki's eyebrow twitched. "Lee-san, why is Fight acting weird?"

Lee pointed at Haru, who was complacently juggling the scrolls. "Mahou shonen pretty Haru here-" ("**HEY!**" Haru yelled) "-decided to give Fight some candy. Apparently, she gets… weird… on those things."

Yuki looked at Fight, who was now challenging a tree to a duel for looking at her funny. She made a mental note never to give the Clow Card any sugar. "Well, I guess this means we're all done with the second part of the exam."

"Huh?" Naruto said.

With a flick of his wrist, Haru tossed the scroll Team Seven needed to pass the exam at Sakura, who fumbled it a little since she wasn't expecting it. "There. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get my water bottle. Toodles!"

With that, he was off, bouncing from tree to tree as Lee looked on in annoyance, trying to keep Fight from doing something _really_ stupid. "I _hate_ it when he does that!"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Haru met them at the tower with his over-sized cooler on his back. When he got there, he was torn between being amused and annoyed at how much Lee and Sasuke were glaring at each other. On the one hand, it was nice to know he wasn't the only one Lee rubbed the wrong way. On the other hand, that was _his_ Slytherin, darn it! Hands off!

"About time you got here, Potter!" Lee snapped. "We've already wasted our time waiting for you!"

"You didn't have to wait around on _my_ account," Haru said snidely, knowing they very well had to.

Lee knew that, too. "Baka!"

Yuki rolled her eyes, shaking her head amused at the two. "Come on, you guys! We've got a 'mission' to finish!"

Haru nodded, falling into step with Yuki as he waved good bye to Team Seven and dragging Lee away from Sasuke's gaze. "Be seeing you guys! Come _on_, Lee, we haven't got all day!"

"HEY, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HAD TO GO AND GET YOUR BOTTLE!"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

"I'm surprised that Kabuto didn't back out," Potter said, obviously trying not to grin at Kabuto and failing miserably. The silver-haired traitor kept giving Potter and her dirty looks, which Potter kept answering with wide annoying smiles. Truth be told, Fei was very tempted to do the same, but her pride kept her from doing so. Besides, looking cool in her mirror shades was a lot more fun. Really.

…

Really!

…

Still, it _would_ be fun to send annoying looks Kabuto's way…

She barely kept her hand from going up and pulling off her sunglasses and using her eyes to try and freak out the medic-nin.

"Would you stop that!" Fei growled at Potter, who was grinning at Kabuto and waving to him from across the room. Fei's peripheral vision was registering the murderous looks being cast their way when no one was looking. "_Must_ you antagonize the Kakashi-level Sound med-nin?" She was starting to miss the depressant, near-useless Card Captor!

"But it's so much _fun!_" Potter said, smirking at her. Next to him, Yuki sighed.

"First match is coming up," she said, obviously trying to change the subject and wondering what the heck she was doing here. Fei felt things were a bit more surreal than usual, herself.

"Why are you worried?" Potter said. "You rigged up the matches, didn't you?"

Yuki was silent.

"Didn't you, Tsukino?" Fei pressed.

Not a peep.

She and Potter exchanged looks, before turning to look at the screen, which was announcing the match of Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi.

Sephiroth walked towards them, looking nervously back over his shoulder at Kurenai and Anko. "Crazy women," the Sun-Guardian-turned-blond muttered under his breath. He glared at Yuki, who was trying to look innocent. "I blame you for this."

Fei raised an eyebrow. "I thought you _liked_ looking like that?"

"I do, but nearly a week of being chased around by women trying to get into my pants kind of takes the fun off it," Sephiroth retorted. "Sure, it was nice the first few times, but after the tenth mob out to strip me naked, it got annoying."

The three looked at him, eyebrows twitching. Potter and Fei turned to look at Yuki, who had a strange look on her face, as if she couldn't decided whether to be amused, weirded-out, shocked or embarrassed. "MOBS?" they chorused at the shuriken user.

She shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

The two slapped their faces.

It didn't take long before…

"Tsukino Yuki versus Inuzuka Kiba!" Genma announced.

Potter and Fei winced, looking with concern at their mutual acquaintance. "Yuki…" Potter began.

"Tsukino…" Fei said.

She waved them off. "I'll be fine," she said, putting one foot up on the railing before turning around to smile at them. "Really, the two of you shouldn't worry about me. Your false memories should give you some kind of idea as to what I can do."

The two rivals looked at each other in mutual concern as their mutual teammate jumped into the ring.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Yuki landed lightly on her feet, her Buster Shur dismantled and held in both hands as Kiba landed in front of her.

"A girl?" the Inuzuka said contemptuously as he thumbed his nose, gesturing for Akamaru to go to a corner and nap this one out. "Oh, this is going to be easier than trashing Naruto!"

"HEY" was the cry from the balconies.

Yuki just grinned. "You're getting your ass kicked, then," she said, before snapping the pieces of her Buster Shur together and returning it to it's highly oversized state.

Kiba snorted. "Feh. As if Naruto could beat me, much less a girl!"

This time, Naruto wasn't the only one who yelled "HEY!"

"Something tells me this is going to be highly entertaining," Sephiroth said, sitting down cross-legged on the catwalk. "Wish we had something sweet to eat, though."

Lee reached into her deck holster. "Give me something to transfigure and we'll have lots of cavity inducers in no time," she said dryly, brandishing The Sweet Card.

Haru thought about it, before pulling out The Flower Card. "I supposed flower-shaped chocolate isn't _too_ bad, as long as it's not rose flavored, or anything."

Genma raised his hand and slashed in down. "BEGIN!" Cough.

Kiba was immediately running towards Yuki, crouched low to the ground and only a hair away from being down on all fours as Yuki flipped the enormous shuriken into the air. Catching it in one hand, she spun once, and used the momentum generated to launch the weapon into Kiba's path.

"TOO SLOW!" the genin cried as he easily avoided the spinning object.

Immediately, Yuki snapped her wrist, causing something to launch out of her sleeve and into her hand. Or more precisely, _on_ to her hand. Another snap, and the same object was on her other appendage.

Haru blinked, leaning over the railing to try and get a better look as, with a cry of "SWEET CARD!", Lee snapped down her sword. "Uh, Sephiroth-sensei, is it just me, or did two clawed gauntlets just pop on top of her arms?"

Sephiroth nodded amidst the exclamations of surprise, derision, and blunt sword impacts as Sweet appeared. "Yes, you _did_ just see two clawed gauntlets pop on top of Yuki's arms."

Yuki's arms snapped up, pointed straight at the advancing boy. A wide, mad-scientist-manic grinned blossomed on her face for a split second. Said manic grin immediately sent chills down peoples spines.

"Oh, boy," Sephiroth said, accepting the handkerchief filled to the edges with chocolates from Flower as she, Haru, and Lee sat down to either side of him on the catwalk, with Sweet sitting on her mistress' shoulder. "This is going to get ugly."

"Hey, can I have some?" Chouji asked, staring at the chocolate covetously. Ino rolled her eyes in exasperation.

As Flower started making more petals for Sweet to transmogrify, Kiba was dodging like a madman, moving in nearly all possible directions as he tried to keep away from the hail of shuriken Yuki was dishing out. The two gauntlets were launching the metal stars at a ridiculous rate while Yuki laughed madly, her head thrown back and cackling in the best of mad scientists traditions. Everyone but Haru and Lee found it incredibly creepy. Love, apparently, was also deaf, as well as blind.

"Well, at least she's enjoying herself," Haru said, popping another petal chocolate into his mouth. "Although if Kiba hurts her…"

Sephiroth looked down into the pit. From the way Kiba was bouncing all over the place and how Yuki was looking even more psychotic, that didn't seem likely. Although… "We've got incoming."

Yuki was getting bored taking potshots at Kiba something suddenly tackled her from behind, eliciting a cry of surprise as she tried to get Akamaru off her back. "Hey, get off me, mutt!"

"Good job, Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, skidding to a stop, a grin on his face–as well as a few cuts on his jacket– as a feral look came over him. He pointed at Yuki. "Now you'll see our teamwork!"

Yuki blinked, even as she tried to get the little white dog off her back. "Oh, man! I thought I set the fic to _not_ have cliché lines like that!"

"What?" Kiba demanded.

"Uh, nothing," Yuki said. _Phew, almost broke the fourth wall there. Or something…_

"_GATSUUGA!_"

Yuki blinked, then gave a high-pitched shriek as a human drill flew her way. Akamaru jumped of her back as second before she initiated _Kawarimi_. Kiba struck the log that took her place, bouncing at and angle as he hit the ground after shredding it, and Yuki was barely able to avoid him as he came for a second pass.

There was a puff of smoke, and suddenly, Akamaru was looking more human. He growled a moment before launching himself into the air after his partner, a second drill following after the first.

"EEP!" Yuki cried, turning around and running away from the twin drills. Dodging, she tried to bring her gauntlets to bear. She promptly ditched that idea when she was almost hit by one of the drills, and got a glancing blow from the other one.

Back-flipping away from the two while they were still turning around, Yuki snapped the gauntlets back up her sleeves, forming a single seal with her fingers. "KAGE BUNSHIN!"

"What the heck?" Naruto cried, leaning over the railing and yelling in outrage. "That's _my_ signature technique she's using! When did she learn how to do that?"

"Naruto, she's already used it before, don't you remember?" Ino said.

"He was unconscious at the time, Ino-chan," Haru said, popping a chocolate petal into his mouth.

"Naruto raises a good point, Sephiroth," Kakashi said lazily at the seated bishounen. "How _did_ Yuki learn that technique?"

Sephiroth looked him in the eye, all innocence. "I suppose she _could_ have learned it the same way Naruto did, Hatake-san," he said with a perfectly straight face. "She _might_ have stolen the Forbidden Scroll, took it to a deserted corner of the training grounds, and practiced the technique until she fainted from chakra exhaustion."

"And did she?" Asuma said, backing up the silver-haired jounin.

Sephiroth shrugged, accepting a new batch of chocolate from Haru. "How should I know? I'm her sensei, not her parole officer."

Meanwhile, down below, Kiba and Akamaru were destroying clones almost as fast as Yuki could make them.

"HAH! This all you've got, girl?" Kiba said as he stopped spinning and swiped at the nearest clones while Akamaru provided cover, still using _Gatsuuga_. "This is pathetic."

"FALLING STAR TECHINQUE!"

Kiba looked up at the cry and promptly screamed as thousands of chakra-charged _shuriken_ dropped down from the ceiling, causing minor concussive explosions as the struck, destroying clones and sizable chunks of the floor as they did so. One struck Akamaru, who reverted back to his natural form with a cry, his back bloody, before scrambling widely around trying to keep away from the Falling Stars. Kiba wasn't so lucky as Stars ripped through his jacket, knocking him off his feet time and again as he tried to use Kawarimi again and again to try and avoid the impacts.

Yuki dropped to the ground, trailing a tail behind her as she glowed with pink chakra, several shuriken fan-arrayed in her left hand as she pulled her Buster Shur from the wall with her right. "Still think I'm pathetic?" Yuki said, as the small shuriken in her hand glowed pink before turning a blinding white. One-handed, she threw them at Kiba one at a time, causing him to doge back again and again as the shuriken burst explosively before reverting back to normal, imbedded deep in the ground.

"Um, sensei, why is Yuki-san's chakra pink?" Sakura said as the other stared intently.

"I'll answer that!" Sephiroth said before Kakashi could respond, turning his head towards the pink-haired girl. "How much do you know about the Tsukino Clan?"

"There's a Tsukino Clan?" Naruto said.

Sephiroth nodded. "Yuki-chan is the last surviving member of the Tsukino Clan," he said, ignoring the way Haru and Lee had gotten to their feet, even though Haru was the only one cheering wildly. "The Clan specialized in two things: shuriken-based jutsu and the protection of Konoha against demons."

"Demons?" Rock Lee said, eyes getting wider than usual, if that was physically possible.

Sephiroth nodded, ignoring the slightly alarmed looks on the other jounins' faces. "The Tsukino Clan had a special ability that wasn't quite a _kekkai genkai_. Hundreds of years ago, the head of the clan managed to win the favor of a powerful nymph. The nymph allowed itself to be sealed at birth into a member of the clan, allowing the individual access to her nearly infinite chakra. Yuki-chan is the latest host of the nymph Xin Jing. That's why she can use pink chakra. It's the nymph's power she's using, the same power that could match demons."

"Hmph," Neji said. "If the Tsukino Clan is so powerful, why weren't they there to stop the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

The other jounin got tenser.

"Why do you think she's the last of her clan?" Lee said dryly, seeming to glare at the Hyuuga through her glasses. "The nymph was sealed into Tsukino-san mere days before the Fox appeared. The Clan was without it's greatest weapon, so the most they could do to fulfill their duty was to act as cannon fodder while the Yondaime performed his jutsu. Haven't you wondered why more clans were decimated?"

"I seem to remember my father telling me something like that," Shino said suddenly. "About how a whole clan sacrificed itself to protect Konoha from the Demon Fox."

"There you go," Sephiroth said, turning back to the fight, were Yuki had maneuvered Kiba close to a wall. "So if any of you were planning on trying to 'learn' those kinds of techniques, don't hold you breath. The only way you could learn moves like that is if you have a nymph or demon sealed inside you."

Naruto perked up at that. No one noticed.

"GOTCHA!" Yuki said as the last of her shuriken maneuvered Kiba into nearly slamming into a wall. Effortlessly, she threw her oversized weapon. The Buster Shur flew straight towards Kiba's gut as Yuki snapped at the chakra strings on her other shuriken, snapping them back into her hand, only to throw them again in a blanketing volley around the path of the Buster Shur.

"KIBA-KUN!" Hinata cried as cries of shock filled the air.

Next to her, Kurenai tensed, knowing she'd only have a split second to interfere and save her student from being cut in half, but a leather-gloved grip suddenly held her hand preventing her from moving. Outraged, she turned to kill the offender, only to find herself sinking into Sephiroth's red eyes. "Relax. Yuki-chan is just showing off."

Kiba screamed like a girl as he realized he had nowhere to run, and that any direction he went would only end in shuriken, he closed his eyes, waiting for the seemingly inevitable searing pain as he was cut in half. Instead, there was only a loud thud and a soft but sharp impact on his stomach, and then silence.

Blinking, Kiba opened his eyes, looking down to see that the enormous weapon had stuck into the wall at just the right angle to pin him without cutting him in half, although his jacket was a bit torn. Any further observations were interrupted, however, as a foot suddenly collided with his head, slamming it into the wall behind him and making him see even more stars. A moment later, he felt cold metal against both sides of his throat as a voice hissed into his ear. "I win, you lose."

He tried to glare at her, but couldn't seem to focus properly

Cough. "The winner is Tsukino Yuki!"

Yuki flipped her hair, posing. "I am _so _cool."

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Haru was all over Yuki when she finally got back to the catwalk.

"Um, something I can help you with, Haru-kun?" Yuki said in bemusement as Haru ran his hands all over her, checking for injuries. In the background, Flower and Sweet were snickering.

He looked up, staring into her eyes in worry. "You're not injured, are you?"

Yuki waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine. Xin Jing healed me up right away. One of the perks of having pink chakra."

"Personally, I still think it means the chakra is pure evil," Sephiroth said easily. "After all, it's _pink!_"

"Pink is _not_ the color of evil, sensei!" Yuki said.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Enjoying yourself there, Potter?" Lee said dryly, looking pointedly at Haru's hands, and he pulled them back like they'd been burned.

"I hope whoever fights you kicks your butt," Haru growled.

Lee snorted in an unladylike manner. "_Right_. Like _that_ can happen."

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Cough. "Lee Fei versus Hyuuga Neji!"

Fei dearly wanted to wipe the smirk off Potter's face. "Wow. You might actually get your ass kicked after all."

"Drop dead, Potter," she growled, feeling the emotions that came with the false memories coming to the fore. No _if_s, _and_s, or _but_s about it, her SI-self hated the Hyuuga. She felt chakra rushing into her eyes and clamped down on the flow of energy to keep her _doujutsu _from changing. Instead, she calmly began to walk towards the stairs at their end of the catwalk, taking her sweet time.

By the time she got to the ground floor, her emotions, both true and false, were back to being held tightly in check. Not even the purely disdainful look Neji cast her way ruffled her, although she did come _this_ close to doing something stupid.

"Look what the dog dragged in," Neji said, almost sneering yet somehow not.

Fei didn't miss a beat. "How's the seal, Branch House?" she shot back, pushing her forehead protector up slightly to wipe non-existent sweat, revealing her unmarked brow. "The leash isn't _too_ tight around your neck, is it?"

Neji ground his teeth, veins breaking out around his eyes as his _Byakugan_ activated. Fei nonchalantly adjusted her mirror-shades, reaching behind her to loosen her sword. Drawing the Jian, she flicked her wrist, causing her holster to swing open. Holding the blade in both hands, she settled into a ready stance. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

The words seemed to calm Neji down slightly, the veins sinking back down under the skin as the disdainful look returned. He opened his mouth–

"If you're about to give some kind of demoralizing speech about destiny and fate, then _CAN IT!_ I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" Fei yelled, causing Neji to clamp his jaw shut as a familiar giggle sounded from the balcony.

"GOOD LUCK, LEE-SAN!" she heard Yuki yell as Neji settled into a _Jyuuken_ stance, eyes active once more.

"Begin!" Cough.

Fei immediately jumped away from Neji even as her left hand reached for a Card and flicked it into the air. "FIGHT CARD!" she yelled, slamming the point of her sword down into it as Clow Reed's magic circle appeared beneath her. Okay, so what if she had all these skills implanted into her head? Best for her to stick to what she knew. And what she knew was…

"Fight! Attack!" she said, pointing at Neji with her sword as the sprite materialized.

The Hyuuga broke off his attack in surprise as Fight appeared, standing protectively in front of her mistress. "What the…?"

Fight flickered, disappearing. Neji didn't even have time to look surprised before he suddenly got a roundhouse kick to the jaw, sending him flying as Fei pulled out another Card, gathering chakra in her eyes.

"FIREY CARD!"

Flame-like streams of magic burst from the Card under the point of her sword, swirling around her before congealing above her head, forming into a winged man with flaming hair. The Firey Card crossed his arms, expression haughty as he regarded the Hyuuga before him.

Fei pointed her sword at Neji. "Firey Card, _Katon: Karyuu Endan!_"

Ignoring the resounding scream of "**_WHAT!_**" that emanated from the observation areas, Firey gathered his element in his hands, shaping it just so as Fight kept Neji busy. The female sprite was doing a very good job of occupying the genius as the two wove in a swirl of Jyuuken and… whatever fighting style Fight was using. "Fight, move!"

The sprite complied, jumping straight up and away, leaving Neji in the clear for Firey's attack. The enormous flame construct streaked toward him, moments away from incinerating him.

"_KAITEN!_"

Fei smirked as Neji began to spin, chakra blasting from his arms to ward off the oncoming attack. "Firey, terminate _Karyuu Endan!_"

There was a second round of "**_WHAT!_**" from the balconies as the flames suddenly disappeared mere inches from it's target, even as Neji spun in the _Hakkesho Kaiten_. Fei waited patiently for the spin to finish, tapping her sword on the ground as Fight gathered herself for another attack. Up above, Firey was doing the aerial equivalent of tapping his feet, which was basically wiggling his toes in mid-air.

"What the heck is she doing?" Naruto demanded, leaning over the railing as if that would let him see close enough to figure it out. Sighing, Kakashi grabbed his waistband and pulled him back over despite his protests.

"She's gathering information," Sephiroth said, finishing off the last of the chocolate petals and sighing in disappointment. He brightened when Flower gave him the latest batch Sweet had made, and immediately began eating contentedly.

"Huh?"

"Just watch, Naruto-sama," Yuki said, leaning her elbows on the railing and getting comfortable. "GO, LEE-SAN!"

Everyone boggled at the silver-haired girl.

"'Naruto-sama'?" Sakura repeated.

Neji dodged as Fight attacked once more, staying between him and Fei as the girl ordered Firey to the sidelines, to more confusion from the audience. Sheathing her Jian, Fei stood loose, watching the fight and deliberately looking bored as she made a tick on her internal checklist. One down, one to go. Now, if only Neji would consider Fight to be enough of a threat to use the second thing on her wish-list on…

Tamping down the temptation to sit, Fei waited patiently as Fight and Neji fought, her eyes never blinking behind her shades, trying to see every nuance of the battle. Fight was staying just a shade faster and stronger than Neji, just enough to irritate the heck out of the Hyuuga.

"Is this going somewhere?" Kankuro said, sounding annoyed at the uninteresting fight.

"Yes," Haru answered, even though he was looking a bit bored himself.

"And that would be?" Ino asked tartly.

"She's trying to pull a Copy Ninja," was the only reply.

"Huh?" Kakashi said.

"JUST WATCH!" Haru yelled.

Down below, Fei allowed herself a small smile was Potter lost his cool. Oh, such a beautiful sound…

Then she heard something that was even more beautiful and at the same time heart-wrenching as Neji stepped back from Fight, arms straight and palms out…

"**_Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!!!_**"

It went from wrenching to clenching as Fight fell, twitching under Neji's barrage. Chakra and magic arced around her body as her internal energy flow was disrupted, even as Neji drew back his arm for the final blow, chakra swirling…

"Firey, PROTECT FIGHT!" Fei ordered as she charged, hands flickering into seals as she charged at Neji, while Firey sent flames to surround Fight and keep Neji away. The Hyuuga drew back as a crackling sound began to rise in the air. "_Raikiri!_"

In the observation area, Kakashi twitched. "**_WHAT?_**"

Neji barely managed to jump back as the chakra-powered fist slammed into the area where he'd been standing, showering him with shrapnel as Firey spirited Fight away.

"Play time is over, Hyuuga," Fei said, barely restrained heat in her voice. "I have what I want from you."

With that, Fei got into a ready position, palms held out before her, glowing with chakra. Neji blinked. So did the jounin up in the stands.

"Is that," Gai said slowly, "a **_Jyuuken_** stance she's getting into?"

Sephiroth shrugged carelessly. "Must be," he said. "She must have just picked it up. Why?"

The other jounin all boggled at him.

Haru sighed, taking the time to thwack Sephiroth upside the head with the Masamune ("OUCH! HEY, GIVE ME BACK MY SWORD!"). "If you really want to know, ask Uchiha-san. He knows all about it… don't you, Uchiha-san?"

Everyone blinked, then turned to look at the Uchiha, who was glaring at Haru. Haru just smiled back at him, muttering something about evil mirrors and needles of doom.

Twitching, Sasuke turned to respond to the enquiring gazes of everyone around him. "Lee is… a relation," he spat out, looking like the word had left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"Huh?" Naruto said. "What are you talking about, Sasuke-teme?"

"He means," Yuki chirped pleasantly, causing everyone to turn her way, "that Lee-san is a cousin of his. Isn't that right, Uchiha-san?"

"Cousin?" Sakura said. "You mean she's an Uchiha?"

"**_SHE WISHES!_**" Sasuke yelled, before realizing he'd lost his cool in public and tried to pretend it never happened by sinking even deeper into a 'silence-of-coolness'.

"Sadly– or happily, depending on how you look at it," Haru said, smirking slightly at the pale boy, "that's not the case. Lee's an illegitimate child, born out of frazzled nerves, combat fatigue and the desire of her parents not to die a virgin. The Uchiha clan disowned her, so she's had to live alone all this time."

Haru smirked at Sasuke. "The only good thing out of the deal might have been that she didn't get involved in that little massacre a couple of years back."

Sasuke growled at him, eyes suddenly growing red. Haru just kept smirking.

"So you're saying," Kakashi said slowly, "that the reason Lee was able to learn so fast…"

"Is because she has Uchiha blood," Yuki finished for him. "And like any good part-Uchiha, she got a–"

"Sharingan."

Down below, Neji and Fei were fighting _Jyuuken _to _Jyuuken_, Fei using her _Sharingan_ to predict where Neji would be while at the same time copying more and more of his skills. While Neji was the more experienced fighter in the style, Fei was able to hold her own using her knowledge of non-_Jyuuken_ fighting techniques.

"It's no use fighting, Hyuuga," Fei said, avoiding a strike and retaliating with a solid fist that, while not exactly emitting chakra with pinpoint precision, would still have done lots of 'Gentle' internal damage had it connected. Neji hurriedly blocked it, going on the defensive as Fei followed through with another one, and another, and another. "Fate obviously wants you to lose. Why else would so many things be in my favor, Branch House?"

Neji said nothing, managing to avoid the last strike and landing a sloppy blow that didn't have enough chakra behind it, merely feeling like a mildly warm slap.

"My eyes are superior to yours. Accept it and bow down to your destined defeat."

Neji grit his teeth, suddenly changing tactics and going for a kick to the side of the head. Fei just smirked, not moving even as it was stopped cold by a wall of chakra.

"Gotcha," Fei said, before her finger darted up and, in rapid succession, tagged various points along his leg with pre-measured bursts of chakra, before finally sweeping his foot out from under him and launching him in the air with a throw.

Two steps, and Fei was in the air as well, aiming a drop kick at Neji's head that the genius barely avoided. Fei's foot impacted hard on the floor as Neji landed, only to have one of his legs collapse from under him.

"Did you only just notice that?" Fei snickered, casually reaching up and pulling off her mirror shades as she straightened. Her three-_tomo_-ed red eyes gazed at Neji contemptuously. "You really need to pay more attention during a fight, _cousin._"

Fei saw things as if in slow motion as Neji's hand darted to his pouch, pulling out a swarm of _kunai_ and _shuriken_. The slow-motion was supplemented by an overlay of predictions of where they would be, one that Fei didn't need as she began the technique.

"_Kaiten!_"

The various pieces of metal merely bounced off the chakra barrier as she went into the heavenly spin, sending the weapons flying in all directions and causing everyone close-by to duck for cover. Neji was barely able to deflect his own weapons away from him, still managing to acquire a few cuts on his person.

Fei stopped the spin, bringing her fingers up in a single seal. "_Byakugan!_"

Fei's eyes faded back to their usual purplish gray, before turning white as veins suddenly popped into being.

"HEY! WHAT GIVES?" Naruto yelled. "First she's got _Sharingan_, and now those _Byakugan_ things? What is she, some kind of super-ninja?"

Haru and Yuki barely managed to choke back a laugh at the accuracy of this statement.

"Time to finish this, _cousin_," Fei said, getting fully into character as chakra began to flow into her hands and behind her eyes. One step, two steps, and suddenly she was going at Neji in a dead run, her chakra-powered hands leaving glowing blue contrails in her wake.

Gritting his teeth, Neji braced his single leg as well as he could before reaching one last time into his belt pouch…

Fei didn't slow her charge as Neji threw something small and round at her, even when it exploded and suddenly covered the area in thick purple smoke. She could hear Neji moving through the mist, trying to buy himself time to try and open the _tenketsu _points she'd sealed. After all, if they were taught to close them, they must have also been taught to open them, right?

Not that she was going to give him time. Concentrating, she gathered chakra into her eyes, knowing that this would be one of her last moves of the fight. Closing her eyes for a millisecond to concentrate, Fei snapped them open again as they took on a pinkish hue, three dark gray spikes growing out from the invisible pupils at the center of her eyes and expanding outwards to the edges of her corneas.

"_Mangekyou Sharingan!_"

Quickly, she scanned the extent of the mist, bracing herself as more chakra began to gather in her eyes. Her gaze locked on to Neji and stayed there, knowing she she'd be near-completely out of chakra when she was done, successful or not.

"**_Amaterasu!_**"

The legendary black flames lanced forward, burning or blowing away the concealing mist as Fei charged, shifting her gaze slightly to destroy the final volley of weapons Neji threw her way. Twenty feet. "You…"

Fifteen feet. "…are…"

Ten feet."…within…"

Five. "…MY _HAKKE_!"

Fei threw out her arms, palms out as her eyes focused completely on Neji, their lethal fire gone. "This is for Fight," she whispered.

"**_HAKKE ROKUJUKON SHO!!!_**"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Firey caught Fei before she could fall, amazed that his Mistress had still managed to find the strength to stay standing until she'd been declared the winner. Even if this was just a world of Create's making, the toll on the body was still very much real. Next to him, a recovering Fight limped forward, her warrior's pride not letting her stay down for long. Together, the two of them began to carry the barely conscious girl towards the others, fending off the human-constructs Create had made.

The Card Captor bent down slightly, as if to get a better view of Fei. "Man, you look even worse up close. I can't tell you won just by looking at you.

The arm slung over Firey's shoulder tensed slightly as the Mistress growled, her faded purplish gray eyes turning slightly pinkish.

"Lee-san, you were incredible!" the Lady Winter yelled, throwing her arms around the Mistress' neck. The change of hue spread from her eyes as the Mistress' face changed to an interesting shade of red. On her other side, Fight snickered.

"Get off me, Tsukino-san, I can't breathe," Fei finally managed to say after a few moments, sounding strangely reluctant. The Lady Winter didn't seem to notice, however, instantly drawing back with her hands over her mouth, apologizing profusely and already making the necessary hand-seals to heal Fei's injuries.

The Card Captor looked annoyed at the exchange, glancing between the two girls before shaking his head. "Tell me again how you managed to achieve _Mangekyou Sharingan _without being branded a missing-nin for killing your best friend? I don't think I really got that one."

"Her pet dog," the Lady Winter said. "Remember how she had to kill him when he got rabies? Apparently, non-human best friends count."

(Sasuke heard and promptly resolved to get a dog)

Tuning out the banter between the three– four when Master Keroberos called for one of them to hand him a new batch of chocolate– Firey looked back at the battle area, remembering that construct the Mistress had created. In his mind, he recalled the jet-black flames, and wondered if there was some way he could do that himself. He was sure the Mistress would be pleased…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

"You turned her into a Super-Sue, you know," Haru said, watching with some amusement as Fei was tended to by Firey, Fight and the diminutive Sweet.

"A Super-Sue?" Yuki said curiously.

"A Super Mary Sue," Haru clarified. "Seriously, _Byakugan **and** Mangekyou Sharingan_? That's on the side of the overkilled."

"Your just saying that because you don't like _your_ _kekkei genkai_," Yuki said, pouting at him.

"Actually, I like my bloodline limit rather well," Haru said dryly. "I just haven't had a chance to use it, that's all."

"Looks like you're going to," Sephiroth said from around a mouthful of chocolate as he pointed at the board.

Haru followed his gaze and felt his blood run cold as he saw the names on the board. Next to him, Yuki gasped.

"The next match is between–" Cough. "Sabaku no Gaara versus Potter Haru!"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

**- To be continued…**

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

A/N: Pink _is_ the color of pure evil when not associated with a girl named Kinomoto Sakura…

Oh, and the breaks? They're a favor for a friend…

Please review, C&C welcome. I don't suppose I can beg you guys to drop off more?

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	22. The End Of The Dream

A/N: a cautionary warning. Gory and very suggestive scenes ahead. Draw your own conclusions. If you come up with a good omake, I'll give you credit for it.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 22, The Fight: The End Of The Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

"The next match is between–" Cough. "Sabaku no Gaara versus Potter Haru!"

Fei instantly perked up upon hearing this, causing Sweet, Firey and Fight to draw back in surprise.

"Am I hearing this right?" Fei said, barely repressed emotion in her voice. "Potter is going to fight Gaara of the Desert?"

"Um, yes, Mistress," Firey said, sounding unsure.

Fie was on her feet in an instant. "GO GET HIM, SAND BOY! TAKE DOWN POTTER AND PROVE YOUR EXISTENCE!"

Potter twitched, sticking his finger in his ear and shaking it out. "Lee, you _do_ realize I'm standing right next to you?"

Fei flashed him a toothy grin. "_Veeerrryy_ much so, Potter."

"Traitor."

"Just playing the odds. Besides, it's not like you've got anything sealed in _your_ stomach– " at this, Naruto and the non-SI jounins get nervous "–like Tsukino-san does." Sighing, they all relax.

"No, I just happen to have two elemental 'summons' by my side," Haru said dryly as he shouldered his water.

"Break an arm and leg, Potter!" Fei yelled after him, suddenly in a very good mood.

"You okay, Lee-san?" Yuki said, looking at Fei with a half-smile that did interesting things to the latter's rate of cardiovascular performance.

"Oh, just expecting a good show, that's all," Fei said, managing not to get flustered. _Yuki really should wear a tank top more often, _she thought.

"Oh," Yuki said, laughing as she made herself comfortable next to Fei. Cardiovascular performance experienced a momentary pause followed by triple speed. "It was sure nice of you to encourage Haru like that. Well, to anyone else it wouldn't have sounded like encouragement, but I guess when you're friends as close as you and Haru, you have your own little quirks, huh?"

"Uh, right…"

Fei didn't notice Sephiroth grabbing Haru's arm and whispering something in his ear…

----------------------------------------

Haru walked stiffly down the stairs, his subconscious taking care of balancing the water he carried on his back. He could hear the stairs creaking in protest beneath him and hoped they wouldn't give. Wouldn't _that _be an embarrassing way to die: death by stair collapse.

Gulping he stood in across from Gaara, trying not to show the fear he was feeling. It was kind of hard, considering he _knew_ they guy in front of him was a nearly insane demon carrier.

…

Well, he was supposed to be, anyway.

Haru tried to calm down as Genma coughed yet again, getting slightly annoyed at the man. Honestly, there were lozenges for that sort of thing! "Begin!"

Haru tensed, ready to move at a moments notice, but Gaara just stood there, arms crossed, that annoyed look on his face not changing one bit.

"What are you waiting for, Potter? An engraved invitation?" Lee yelled cheerily from the balcony. "The man said begin!"

"Stuff it, Lee!" Haru cried, aware that Yuki was listening and hoping she thought this was just normal rival talk instead of 'hates-each-others-guts' talk.

Taking a deep breath, Haru shrugged off his tank of water, hearing hit the ground with a firm sound as the water sloshed inside.

_Now or never,_ Haru thought.

One last deep breath, and he was moving, strafing to the side and launching a barrage of _shuriken, kunai _and _senbon_ at Gaara. He didn't wait for it to hit the sand he knew would be there before he threw his bombs, the charges blowing on the sand's surface, causing stray particles to go flying but not doing any damage. He could just make out one of Gaara's teal eyes looking at him contemptuously, and couldn't repress a shiver. Even if he didn't know what he was facing, the gaze alone would creep him out.

Shaking off those thoughts, Haru kept running, sending out the few tagged _senbon_ he was able to make on his short walk down. The needles struck the sand, fizzing for a moment before detonating spectacularly. When the dust cleared though, the sand didn't look any more damaged than before.

"I hate unbreakable defenses," Haru muttered, skidding to a stop and facing Gaara. Reaching up to his neck, Haru pulled off the key. "Key of power, show me your true form. I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"

The key floated out of his hand as Clow Reed's symbol appeared under his feet, elongating into a wand as Haru snapped his right wrist in sequence, causing the Cards locked there to fan open. Reaching in, he pulled out a Card and flicked it into the air. "RAIN CARD!"

The Card dissolved, reconstituting into the little sprite who had flooded the dungeons of the castle all those months ago.

"Rain, do your thing! Flood this area!"

Rain did a jaunty salute, before materializing a cloud to ride on and starting to pour down on everything as Haru reached into one of his belt pouches and pulled out a pair of goggles, which he immediately put on.

"AHH! MY HAIR!" Ino cried as the water started to fall.

"I suddenly hate my long hair," Sephiroth said as he pulled said blond strands out of his face, looking down forlornly at the chocolate flower petals in his hand before shrugging and popping them into his mouth. Hey, they were just wet.

"Stop whimpering," Fight told Firey, who was cringing at the rainfall as steam wafted up from his body. "You will _not_ be snuffed out!"

Yuki just pulled an umbrella from out of her sleeves and kept on watching.

Haru waited, tense, but Gaara made no move. Indeed, he seemed a bit fascinated with the water that was just coming in out of nowhere, soaking his clothes (and everyone else's) and washing away a few of his loose sand particles.

There was a long, silent pause as the rain fell indoors.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU TWO WAITING FOR? A RAINBOW?" Lee suddenly yelled. "FIGHT ALREADY!"

Haru was about to answer Lee back, but a burst of chakra stopped him cold. He turned to see more sand slowly pouring out of Gaara's gourd, a little being washed away by the water, but staying intact, moving menacingly and reminding Haru of a _really_ big tongue.

Uh oh, time to move.

Haru flipped backward, chakra surging to his feet as he landed on the inches thick water now on the floor that had accumulated during the long silence that Lee had _so_ rudely interrupted. Snapping the Sealing Wand up, he pointed it straight at Gaara, recalling the spell Sephiroth had told him before coming down. "_Aguamenti!_"

A pillar of water blasted towards Gaara from the end of the Wand, only to be met by a wall of sand. The water broke off a few chunks before the wall managed to firm up, stiffening to it's usual stony hardness.

_It's slowed down,_ Haru noted. _And it doesn't firm up as fast. That's nice to know._

Quickly, Haru broke off his spell, grasping the Sealing Wand in his teeth as his hands flickered quickly into Seals, not waiting for the sand to go on the offensive. "_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!_"

The surface of the water around Haru rippled, before blobs and pillars began to rise to the surface, resolving themselves into clones of the boy, lacking only Sealing Wands in their mouths. As one, the hoard dove at Gaara, _kunai_ in hand and running over the water. The sand retaliated immediately, picking them off as they approached, yet moving much slower than it had been. The water had obviously taken a toll as the sand whipped around as one big tongue, rather than the airy wisps and walls it had before.

The clones breaking into water when the tongue destroyed them seemed to be washing the sand away a little at a time, but Haru had no illusions this would make a difference. He thought back to those episodes he read and watched on Dudley's computer and the various Manga he'd managed to buy, wincing as he realized he might potentially have a bigger chance of winning if he convinced Gaara to half mutate. At least then the mobile sand wouldn't be a problem, although the berserker raccoon wasn't exactly something to take lightly. If only he could break through the defense like Naruto had– would– whatever…

_Lee, eyes strangely blank, holding the sword the suit of armor had been holding in her right hand and her own sword in the other, attacked…_

Harry blinked at the remembrance, before breaking out into a grin as he reached into his holster, eyes flicking towards it for a moment as he pulled out his Card.

"SWORD CARD!"

The Sealing glowed, before shifting into the narrow, elegant, rapier-like blade that had nearly killed him months ago. Knowledge, skill, and instinct flooded into his mind, ones that he knew did _not_ come from The Create. No, a different Card was responsible for this, a Card that was the consciousness he could feel nestled in his hands and extending slightly into his psyche.

A ripple in the water, and he was running, Rain clearing a path in front of him as the downpour parted for a moment, still feeding the flood under his feet. Three of his _Mizu Bunshin_ flanked him in his charge, unmindful of eminent dissolution.

The first clone ran at the tongue of sand head on, slashing at it with it's _kunai_ only to be reduced to it's component element. The other two instantly grab hold of the sand appendage when it paused in it's strike, holding on as well as they could before they were impaled by the sand spikes that suddenly grew out of the main construct.

That was all the opening Haru needed as he swung The Sword Card in a wide arc, cutting straight through the sand even as he flipped back out of it's range. Landing on the surface of the inches thick and still-slowly rising water, Haru watched as the sand he'd cut off from the main body dissolve into a thick sludge, before breaking apart into so many particles as it hit the water, which quickly it washed away.

Fei's eyebrow twitched. "Did he," she began slowly, "actually manage to _break through _Gaara's sand defense without using super speed?"

"Uh huh," Yuki said, now sharing her umbrella with a gibbering Firey. "It was pretty smart of him to use Rain, actually. It limits Gaara's sand slightly, as well as impeding his movement. Since he's from the desert and all, I don't think he knows how to stand on water, and even if he did, Haru is the master of water. He was an environmental edge."

Fei twitched again.

Meanwhile, Haru just finished putting together an insane plan to beat Gaara. It was crazy, it was over the top, it would probably be all or nothing, and it was all him.

Now, if only it would work…

Raising his left hand, Haru began moving his fingers. At least, that's what it looked like to most of the people watching. For Team Seven and Team Sephiroth, however…

"Is he making seals with one hand?" Sasuke said slowly, recalling a certain masked boy who could very well have been a masked girl.

"Yes," was all Yuki said, staring intently as droplets of water seemed to rise out of the floor and raindrops hang in mid-air…

"_SENSATSU SUISHO!_"

Water needles came flying towards Gaara, instantly triggering his sand's defensive capabilities and catching the needles on various shell-like structures around the red-head. Rather then dissolving, however, the needles kept pushing deeper and deeper, breaking up as they squeezed themselves between the demon-controlled particles.

Haru allowed himself a smile, even though he kept his fingers twisted into the final seal he had made. So far, so good. Maybe he could actually beat Gaa–

"_AAAAIIIIYYYY_!"

Haru's head snapped to the side, and he nearly lost his concentration. He watched, stunned and feeling oddly helpless as Rain suddenly fell from her cloud, a vaguely _shuriken_-shaped glob of sand still stuck to her chest where it had hit. The downpour stopped instantly as the little sprite was taken by gravity.

"RAIN!" Haru cried.

Bringing his _kekkei genkai_ to bear, Haru watched as a geyser suddenly exploded up from the surface, catching Rain and gently slowing her descent. The pillar of water then quickly rushed around behind Haru, before surging upwards and suddenly holding Rain up in front of Yuki.

Haru turned his head slightly in her direction, his eyes not really leaving Gaara. Was that a ghost of a satisfied smile on the other boy's face? The needles started pressing harder against the sand. "Take care of her," he said, waiting until his teammate had lifted Rain out before letting the supporting pillar collapse back into the water.

Haru's green eyes seemed to darken as he glared at the boy in front of him through water drenched hair and goggles. He now had a reason, a _real_ reason, to beat Gaara. It was no longer a question of whether he could potentially beat Gaara or not. He would beat him, then _beat_ him!

Still…

"I," Haru said slowly, still concentrating on what he was doing, "am giving you one chance to surrender….and apologize to Rain. Or else… I will cripple you."

Gaara said nothing behind his shield, although Haru heard what might have been a contemptuous "Hmph."

"Fine. Be that way, _jinchuriki._"

There were some gasps in the galleries at those words. Haru didn't care. Instead, he changed his seal.

There was a loud crackling sound, and suddenly, the surface of Gaara's shield was covered with a veneer of frost as ice began to grow where Gaara's sand met the water.

"Your funeral."

Haru suddenly dashed forward, his left hand making more seals as he held Sword tightly in his right. "_Makyo Hyosho!_"

More exclamations of surprise from the Team Seven gallery as the ice mirrors materialized around Gaara, surrounding him completely as Haru dove into the nearest one. Barely an eye-blink later, there was a flicker in the air, and suddenly a long gash appeared on the frozen shield.

A light bulb went on in Yuki's head, and she suddenly jump to her feet, mindful of the Clow Card in her arms. "YES! HARU, _YOU'RE A GENIUS! GO, HARU, GO!_"

She turned to Sephiroth and Lee, who were looking at her strangely. "Don't you get it? Haru completely doused Gaara's sand with water, and when it was completely saturated, froze it with his bloodline limit, totally incapacitating Gaara's attack and defense since he's almost completely reliant on his sand! Haru's going to win!"

"Oh, joy," Fei muttered in disappointment, trying to squeeze water out of her clothes. That's it, the minute she was out of this, she _would_ find a spell that dried your clothes!

Haru steadily hacked through Gaara's sand with Sword, breaking the supposedly impenetrable defense with each reflection between mirrors. Finally, Haru managed to break through with one last revolution around Gaara. The sand defense shattered, revealing the redhead still standing there calmly, if soaking wet.

"DIE!" Haru cried, materializing from the mirror directly in front of Gaara, Sword drawn back.

"Haru, LOOK OUT!" Yuki cried.

Sand suddenly exploded from the gourd on Gaara's back, dry and fresh. The sand spread out, seeking to enfold Haru and send him to the grave…

With an explosion of smoke, the sand struck a log that had taken Haru's place. Said log was quickly enfolded and crushed with so much pressure, it didn't even feel it's death.

Thankfully, the log didn't care.

A moment later, the mirror that had been hanging above Gaara suddenly dropped down right on top of him. His sand reacted, reaching up to block the mirror, only to have the other mirrors drop as well. The mirrors liquefied on impact, soaking through the sand and saturating them under Haru's direction.

"_Aguamenti!_"

A jet of water shot from the side, instantly soaking the sand that rose up in defense. The sand immediately froze over as Haru brought his bloodline to bear, shattering as Haru sent a Flipendo at the stiff appendage.

"You are going to pay for what you did," Haru said as his left hand flickered, his right hand sending blast after blast of water, soaking and freezing sand. Sweat beaded on his head as the joints of his left hand started to ache and a headache began to blossom between his temples. He had to keep going. Just a little more…

Gaara, apparently sensing weakness, suddenly knelt down, leaning forward slightly as the gourd on his back dissolved completely, shooting at Haru like some kind of sand bazooka.

"**_AGUAMENTI!_**" Haru cried, sending one last mighty blast of water against the oncoming sand. He had no time to even attempt to freeze it as his fingers flickered like crazy.

The sand was nearly close enough to touch when…

"_SUITON! SUIRYUUDAN NO JUTSU!_"

A huge dragon-shaped construct of water suddenly emerged from behind Haru, smashing against the sand and seeming to swallow it in chunks as it began to streak towards Gaara, biting and soaking every particle of sand it could reach as it rushed towards the red-head. "You're a dead man, Gaara, challenging a master of water _jutsu_ where he can reach water," Haru said as he used his bloodline limit to freeze the drenched clumps of sand, rendering them useless. "Without your sand, you're nothing."

The water level dropped slightly as the dragon charged, smashing into a completely undefended Gaara and knocking him back. He crashed into the water, sending ripples in all directions as the water dragon reared itself up, before slamming down right on top of him.

Haru's fingers shook, and abruptly the hand maintaining the seal dropped, no longer able to maintain the rather awkward position as the edges of tiredness began to slam at him. The dragon shuddered, before collapsing back into water as he ceased to maintain the _jutsu_, sending water and frozen sand everywhere. Water lapped at Harry's shins as he dropped back into the water, nearly falling over at the painful shock of his feet hitting the stone floor.

Panting, Haru tried not to bend over as his body protested violently as the after effects of blood limit use after chakra use after magic finally caught up with him. His knees shook, and he almost lost his grip on the Sealing Wand as he began to ache. _Please let it be over, please let it be over…_

Slowly, Gaara stood up, the sand covering making up his final defense cracked and on some places not there at all. Haru shivered as the beginnings of a manic gleam began to shine in the redhead's eyes, even as his mouth began to draw back for a grin.

Haru grinned as well. "So, does this mean you still want more?"

In a rush, the sand around Gaara began to peel off, floating in the air as they quickly began to congeal into a long, narrow construct. Haru felt a chill that had nothing to do with being completely drenched go up his spine as Gaara finally achieved his insane look and spoke one word.

"Die."

The sand construct streaked towards Haru even as the fingers of his left hand quickly began twisting, shaping and guiding chakra and concentration for one last technique.

"_Mizu no Yoroi!_" Haru said, feeling a coldness cover his entire body.

The spear of sand struck Haru's Armor of Water, knocking the boy back and buying him time even as he made a few last seals. There was an explosion of ninja smoke as the spear finally broke through the coating of water, slamming into the log that had replaced Haru.

"Hey kid, CATCH!"

Gaara instinctively turned towards the sound of the voice, only to be hit head-on by a giant tank of water. There was a sickening sound on impact, and Gaara was thrown back into the flooded floor, the water bottle holding him down and keeping him there. The boy struggled to rise, pushing ineffectually at the container.

Slowly, Haru walked towards the boy pinned under his bottle, dismissing the Sealing Wand and putting the Key back around his neck. "I promised I'll cripple you," Haru said grimly, his hands joined into a single seal. "I never break a promise. For Rain."

Blood ran in the water as spikes of ice pierced Gaara's ankles, knees, thighs, wrists, arms and shoulders…

----------------------------------------

Yuki and Sephiroth dropped down to the pit as soon as Genma declared Haru the winner. They ignored Temari and Kankuro following after them, dropping down into the water and landing easily on the surface without so much as a splash. Pink chakra began to swirl around Yuki's hands as she passed Rain to Sephiroth, who almost fumbled the unconscious sprite.

"I'm fine," was the first thing Haru said when they got to him, trying to bat away Yuki's hands as he tried to walk towards the nearest set of stairs, seemingly forgetting his water bottle.

Yuki just rolled her eyes and ignored him, her hands flickering to form a generic healing _jutsu_. Well, it would be generic, but since she had insane amounts of pink– whatever Sephiroth-sensei said about it– non-evil chakra to power it with, it was good for nearly anything. "Haru, you might not have noticed, but you are _not_ fine. Gaara actually managed to hit you when you weren't looking."

Haru blinked. "Huh?"

Yuki ran her finger across Haru's cheek, and he winced. Raising up her finger, she showed him the blood. "He was shooting wire-thin streams of sand at you. Thinner, maybe. Anyway, he managed to use those strands as monofilaments, using the microscopic imperfections and edges of the sand to cut you. I think he was just drawing blood to get himself worked up and squish you messily."

Haru raised an eyebrow at her. "How did you come up with all that?"

Yuki shrugged. "It was part of a Gaara fic I was planning to write. I made up a bunch of _justu_ for him to use and Sand Monofilament was one of them."

Haru opened his mouth, then closed it as he seemed to change his mind. Finally, he said, "I won't ask."

Yuki gave him a look. "It wasn't yaoi, if that's what you're wondering."

"Oh, good."

"GaaTema sandcest lemon."

"Ac–… Hmm, I have to make me one of those."

"Do I want to know what you two are talking about?" Sephiroth said as Yuki started to heal Haru.

"No," was all Haru said. "How's Rain?"

"I've healed her, but she's still unconscious," Yuki said, watching as Haru tenderly picked up the sleeping Clow Card. Haru closed his eyes, seeming to concentrate for a moment. Rain began to dissolve into blue streaks of power, finally condensing in Haru's hand as a Card.

"Come one, let's get off the field," Sephiroth said. The three began to head towards the stairs watching as Gaara was loaded on to a stretcher.

"Hey!" Genma cried. "Who's going to clean up this mess?"

They all looked at the jounin, who was standing on top of the water.

For a moment, Haru tried to push chakra to his feet, and gave up when his head started to spin. He turned to Sephiroth. "You wouldn't happen to know a 'get-rid-of-water' spell, would you?"

Sephiroth shook this head, then brightened as a thought struck him. "Hey, LEE! Get Firey down here and have him evaporate all this, would you?"

"WHY SHOULD I?" Lee yelled back.

"Please?" Yuki said, smiling.

It took a while, but the floor eventually got dried.

----------------------------------------

Fei resolutely tried to ignore the sound that had been getting on her nerves since they'd let them out of the tower–and indeed, before. It was a constant sound, managing to get through her usually rock hard skin (rock hard whenever Potter wasn't involved, anyway) and annoy her. It was only a matter of time before she snapped.

Eventually, she did.

"Tsukino!" she cried, finally looking up from the Kingdom Hearts Manga she'd been trying to bury herself in. "Would you please stop the incessant giggling?"

At this, Yuki broke out into outright laughter, and Potter soon joined her. "I'm sorry!" she cried, trying to calm down. "It's just that– …the look on your face when Firey kissed you…"

At this, the two burst out laughing again, and Fei turned red (and not in the usual good way she turned red when Yuki was around). "He didn't have to do that in public," Fei muttered.

"So, how's it feel to finally be kissed by a guy, Lee?" Potter said, snickering.

She gave him a dirty look. "I hope your a male Clow Cards shows you the same devotion."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but Time and Shot don't swing that way," Potter said cheerfully, making Fei long to wipe that smirk off his face.

"Hey, Haru, I just realized," Yuki said suddenly, turning to the boy sitting next to her. "About your fight with Gaara. You had him in calf deep water the whole time. Why didn't you just do that, uh, spiky ice thing to begin with."

Potter frowned. "Well, first I didn't want to hurt him so badly, but after he hit Rain, I just wanted to humiliate him and make him suffer. **_No one_ **hurts the Cards like that!"

"Don't worry," Yuki said soothingly, reaching over to squeeze his hand. Fei's eyebrow twitched as she tried not to give in to the urge to growl. "I managed to heal her. Xin Jing's chakra is particularly useful for healing, although the light-based _jutsu_ are nice too–"

"You two _do_ remember this is just a fantasy world created by The Create Card because of Tsuk– _Moon's_ incessant fan fiction writing, right?" Fei interrupted, and the two of them had the gall to look at her in surprise. She rolled her eyes. "Technically, none of this is real! We are not here to live as ninja, we are here to satisfy the conditions of _Moon's_ fic! Remember?"

At their sheepish looks, Fei wasn't able to stop herself. She palmed her face in frustration, muttering uncomplimentary things– at Potter, of course– in Mandarin as a part of her wished her cousin had found the Clow Cards all those years ago so that _she_ wouldn't have to go through this frustration now. "I can't believe you two! **You both forgot?**"

"Uh, sorry?" Yuk– _Winter_ said.

"_Sorry?_ ARGH!"

"Are you feeling all right, Lee-san?" _Winter_ asked.

"Ugh, forget it. Now that we've lived through the chuunin exam, what exactly needs to happen to satisfy your fic?" Lee asked.

Winter told them.

----------------------------------------

Haru and Sephiroth found themselves being given the rather difficult assignment of stalking Hyuuga Hinata. It helped a bit that she was currently concentrating on _her_ stalkee, one Uzumaki Naruto.

Thus, she never noticed when Haru stunned her from behind.

Naruto was even simpler. They simply walked up to him and congratulated him on beating Lee in the elimination– hey, it's theoretically possible!– and offered to buy him ramen. He never even noticed when they slipped that knockout drug into his bowl.

Haru shook his head as Sephiroth grudgingly picked up the unconscious blond. "Hard to believe this guy is that hero of his series," he said as the two started walking towards where they had stashed Hinata.

Arriving at the little cave they'd dug, the two looked eat each other and nodded. Harru pulled out his wand, muttering '_Aguamenti_' under his breath. When he'd gotten enough water, he made a few seals. "_Mizu bunshin!_"

The two Haru clones quickly took Naruto as Sephiroth injected something into the blond's bloodstream. Haru and Sephiroth quickly turned their backs as the two clones methodically began stripping Naruto until he was completely naked. Leaving him lying on the floor, they went to get the still unconscious Hinata. Sephiroth quickly gave her the same stuff they'd given Naruto, only at three times the amount, the maximum limit before it became lethal. Haru figured she needed a _lot._

That do, Sephiroth stepped away as Haru began making a series of seals. "_Makyo Hyosho_, revised! Funhouse cage!"

The ice mirrors began forming around the unconscious two, but instead of the way they usually appeared, the mirrors made a perfect crystal dome around the two, effectively trapping them inside, the mirrors their only source of illumination.

"Just for the record, this is twisted," Sephiroth said, looking at the blank expanse of ice in front of them. Behind it, they knew, the two _Mizu Bunshin_ were obediently stripping off all of Hinata's clothes. Said clothes were promptly thrown out of the small hole at the top, which Haru them made smaller with a seal of his fingers. It wouldn't do for them to escape, after all.

Haru just began folding the girl's clothes, although he didn't go anywhere _near_ the underwear. "If everything goes according to plan, the two of them will wake up in a few minutes and Hinata will barely have time to realize they're both naked before the aphrodisiacs kick in. When it does, she'll be too turned on to faint. It's only a mater of time before it starts to affect them, considering their both in a room full of mirrors and no matter which way they look, they'l still see each other in the buff."

"Okay, I take it back; IT'S NOT TWISTED, IT'S EVIL!"

Haru just grinned. "I wonder how Yuki and the priss are doing…?"

----------------------------------------

Fei finished stripping Ino, carefully folding the girl's clothes for later. Next to her, Winter finally got the last of Sakura's clothes off, still snickering evilly as she began readying the aphrodisiac shots. "I can't _believe_ you're going along with this," Fei said dryly as she began preparing Ino's own shot. "This is so… so…"

"Ecchi?" Winter provided cheekily, slapping Sakura's butt before administering the shot. Fei twitched slightly.

"Yeah, ecchi…" she said, resisting the urge to slap Ino as she gave the blonde her injection. "This seems like something out of a weird lemon.

"That's the point of the exercise," Winter said as her two _Kage Bunshin_, one carrying an empty syringe and the other carrying Sasuke's clothes, entered. They'd been incredibly lucky to be able to ambush the Uchiha, although Fei's _Mangekyou Sharingan _had a lot to do with it.

With a snap of her fingers, Winter had the two clones carrying the two naked kunoichi into the room with Sasuke. There was a clinking sound as their legs were all shackled to the enormous bed in the room,followed by a puffing sound as the two clones dissolved.

"They should be coming around in a few minutes," Winter said as she and Fei began locking the three in by nailing the doors shut. An exploding tag had been set to release them in two days, and they'd thoughtfully left food in the room. Lots of canned whipped cream, syrup, sprinkles…

----------------------------------------

"Okay, Naruto and Hinata, check," Yuki said. "The InoSasuSaku is ready to go too. Now we just need to wait for Sand and Sound to invade and we can go home!"

Haru sighed as he went back to reading _Ikki Tousen_. "I still can't believe we went through all that trouble to set up a few parings. I mean, just those guys? Can't we get a little more creative?"

Yuki pursed her lips thoughtfully, before grinning in a way that had people– well, people other than Haru and Lee, away– running for their dorms. "Well, we _do _have a month…"

----------------------------------------

Anko slowly regained consciousness, immediately becoming aware of few things. One, she was naked. Two, it felt like someone had slapped her butt. Three, she was in a room made completely of mirrors, on top of a thin mattress. Four, Kurenai and Iruka were in the room with her. And five, they were also naked.

That was as far as she got before the aphrodisiac kicked in…

----------------------------------------

A few cities away, Tsuade and Shizune found themselves in the interesting position of being in a locked room, their legs shackled to a bed, with nothing to eat but canned whipped cream, syrup, sprinkles…

----------------------------------------

Genma woke up and found himself naked in the same bed as Jiraiya, his idol, although he'd likely never admit that in public.

Jiraiya woke up and found himself naked in the same bed with some strange man.

Naturally, the two took one look at each other and screamed.

----------------------------------------

Temari twitched, her gaze locked on the still, bandaged form of Gaara, lying so peacefully on his bed. _I shouldn't do it, it's so wrong, oh so very wrong, and what if I get caught, oh, what will father think of me…_

Through the small crack on the door, another ice dart flew in, pumped the blonde with a little more of the aphrodisiac, and promptly melted before it was discovered…

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A month later, Create Card time…

"For Orochimaru-sama! For Otagakure! For– URK!"

Sephiroth sharply pulled out the Masamune from where he'd stabbed it into the brown-haired, pink-wearing Ota kunoichi. He just _knew_ that this chick was named Aerith. Just as he knew that the blond Sand guy with the sword nearly as big as his was who was charging at him was some guy named Cloud.

Sighing, Sephiroth swung his ten-foot sword in a wide arc, promptly decapitating the guy, who was in the middle of yelling "OMNI–!" something. Looking around at the other enemy ninja about to charge him, Sephiroth raised his hand, the Materia in his sword and body resonating with his MP. "**_METEOR!_**"

A few moments later, Sephiroth nodded in satisfaction at the pile of crushed and incinerated bodies in front of him. Concentrating, the half-bird tribe manifested his wings 'Sakurazaki Setsuna' style as he went off in search of more victims. He really wanted to try out his other tricks, like Super Nova, Pale Horse, Descend Heartless Angel…

----------------------------------------

"_Amaterasu!_" Fei yelled, burning away the enemy shinobi below her as Firey, Fight, and Arrow provided cover fire. She beat her Fly wings, twisting gracefully in the air as her eyes allowed her to pick out all incoming threats, even as they bounced off Shield.

Below her, she could see Winter's _Kage Bunshin _army going through enemy troops like a flood, their various weapons glinting in the sunlight.

Even Potter was down there, flanked by Windy, Wood, Thunder, Shot and Earthy even as he used The Sword, Dash, Jump and Through Cards to deal his own damage. Thankfully for the two of them, soldier pills were good for providing the energy needed for summoning so many Clow Cards.

Suddenly, the world flickered.

Fei gasped as the world around her suddenly disappeared for a split second, before Konoha returned around her. Scowling, she turned to Firey, who was looking pretty unsteady himself. "Did you feel that?" she said.

He nodded. "Create's world is unraveling," he said. "Now that the story is near the end, it's beginning to lack building material for this reality."

Below her, she could feel power building up and looked down, knowing what she would see.

"I AM THE CARD CAPTOR AND I ORDER YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR TRUE FORM!" Potter cried, slamming the Sealing Wand down before him. "CREATE CARD!"

This time the world didn't just flicker, it dissolved around her as power began to be sapped from the very nature of this reality, being drawn and gathered at the head of the Wand. Fei began to feel the magic al around her as the world shifted, began to feel the nearly all-encompassing presence of The Create Card as the illusion around them slowly stripped away, bit by bit…

There was a moment of disorientation, as if someone had taken her mind and shook it, and Fei suddenly found herself standing beneath the tree on their crest at Hogwarts, facing the lake, the low hung sun shining over the water. Flicking, she became aware of the wings on her back as Firey, Fight and Arrow looked around in confusion. A few feet away, Keroberos was zipping around, chanting something about "Never gonna be chased by girls again!" as the last tendrils of magic were drawn in The Create Card…

Fei was reaching for it even before the Card settled. "MINE!" she cried, even as Potter reached for the Card as well…

The two bumped hard against each other, their hands missing the Card by millimeters as it drifted off in a seemingly random direction…

And straight into the hands of a surprised Winter.

----------------------------------------

"Me?" Winter said, still slightly confused at the current turn of events.

"Well, it _was_ thanks to you that we knew what to do to finish the story," Keroberos said as he curled up on the ground, wearing a pair of miniature sunglasses Winter had bought for him in Hogsmeade. "So I guess that Create decided that _you_ were the one who passed it's test."

"Sounds fair," Harry– definitely _not_ Haru– said as he lay back against the tree. Next to him, Wood was curled up on his shoulder, while Earthy lay on his other side. Dash, Jump, Through and Thunder were all lying on the ground next to Keroberos, enjoying the sun as Shot and Windy napped.

"No objections," Lee said, sitting cross-legged next to Winter as she leaned against Fight. Arrow was nestled in the trees branches as Firey danced a flame across his knuckles. "I'm just glad we finally got out of there."

"It's good to be back," Harry wholeheartedly agreed, looking thorough the slight haze that Illusion caused to stare at Hogwarts. "There's no place like home, after all."

They all sighed, lying back against as they watched the sinking sun go down behind the mountains.

Then Windy, a mischievous glint in her eyes, said, "Will you be needing us for anything else, Master?"

"Hmm?" Harry said sleepily, not seeing Shot's exasperated roll of the eyes, or Firey's amused smirk. "Um, no, I don't think so…"

"Then we are free to go, Mistress?" Fight said as she exchanged looks with her Clow Card sisters.

"Yeah, go ahead," Lee said, waving negligently, before suddenly stiffening.

She and Harry never had a chance as they were suddenly dog-piled by nine Clow Cards intent on kissing them as Keroberos and Winter looked on and laughed…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

**- To be continued...**

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

A/N: sorry it's been so long. I've been kind of busy and what not.

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

**----------------------------------------**

**EXTRA!**

**----------------------------------------**

Harry grinned savagely as he leaned around the corner, checking his prey, before pulling his invisibility cloak over his head, activating Through's power and sneaking up behind them.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle ever knew what hit them as they were Stunned into unconsciousness…

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Groggily, Malfoy slowly pushed himself towards unconsciousness and noticed a few things.

First, he was lying on a bed, naked.

Second, there were no nude Veela around, which meant this probably wasn't one of his fantasies come true.

Third, he was covered in syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, and other not immediately identifiable substances.

Fourth, his butt hurt.

Fifth, there were lots of empty bottles of Firewhisky in the room.

And sixth, he wasn't alone. Crabbe and Goyle were lying on either side of him, also nude and covered in syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, and other not immediately identifiable substances.

Malfoy twitched, and did the only logical thing.

He drew back his head and screamed.

Outside the door, Harry began laughing his head off…

**----------------------------------------**

**END!**

**----------------------------------------**


	23. Aftermath

A/N: the aftermath of freeing Sirius…

Oh, and I give thanks to **Hir **for leaving the funny review with the **Kraken** quote. Potential flame or not, it really made my day! I suggest you all check it out in the reviews page!

Although I'm still trying to figure out why so many like it were sent to the last chap and not, say, to **_Raikiri Triken_**…

These are snapshots of the last days at Hogwarts. If you want to know what that means, check out **_Uzumaki Harry_**, also on my profile page.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 23, The Loop: Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Night at Hogwarts had a tendency to bring about mixed reactions from people. Some would find it scary; after all, there were ghosts lurking about. Some saw it as an opportunity; Harry and company (it doesn't matter which company he's keeping at the moment), as well as the Weasley twins, is very much into this perception. Others, such as 'regular' students, saw it as a period of rest. Others, such as the prefects and teachers, saw it as a period of involuntary lack of sleep. To the ghosts, it was merely a lack of light, another memory that they make palely theirs.

Thus, it was during one particular night that Harry lay awake in the hospital wing, wishing he had a toothbrush handy, or even just a glass of water. His mouth still tasted of all the chocolate he'd been fed to get rid of the effects of being Dementor-ized, and quite frankly, he was a little sick of it.

Idly, he pointed his wand into a convenient glass and muttered "_Aguamenti,_" watching as his wand slowly filled it up with water. Tiredly, he reached for it and took a sip, swilling the liquid around in his mouth to try and wash out the aftertaste of black heaven, before swallowing.

Lying back, Harry stared at the ceiling, watching the play of shadows across it. He should be feeling proud of himself. Only a few scant hours ago, he'd helped Sirius escape right out from under Snape's oversized nose. He and Hermione were able to smuggle Buckbeak away with practically no one the wiser…

And he'd let Wormtail escape.

A small voice inside him that sounded like both Ron and Kero were telling him two out of three wasn't bad. A voice that sounded like Hermione and Winter were telling him that he'd done the best he could, that he should be content with that.

But a voice that sounded like Malfoy and Snape jeered at him for not getting everything right. And a voice that was distinctly Lee kept sneering a single word at him.

"Pathetic."

Harry clenched his eyes shut. For a moment, he wondered wildly if there was a Dementor outside the Hospital Wing. That would certainly explain why he was hearing depressing voices.

But no, he knew he didn't have that excuse. There was no cold, and he couldn't feel the utter _nothingness_ that Dementors left in their wake. No, his voices were his own.

For a moment, Harry frowned, wondering if he was schizophrenic or something.

Shaking his head, Harry growled. He was the Card Captor, darn it! He had more power in his pocket than any student in the school! So why, _why_ couldn't he save Sirius?

Tossing in the bed, Harry's gaze fell on the sleeping form of Hermione. She looked so peaceful lying there, seemingly without a care in the world. A small smear of chocolate was dabbed on the corner of her mouth, unnoticed an unattended. Like him, she was still wearing her day clothes, looking very rumpled and uncomfortable. Her shirt was wrinkled, and her collar was slightly open, a glint of gold shining in the night's dark.

The Time-Turner.

Almost on it's own, Harry's hand crept toward the pocket of his robes where he stored his Cards…

"Harry?"

The sound of his name being whispered shattered the still silence like glass, and Harry's head snapped to the side, one hand darting up to his neck and around the Key. Winter was standing next to the partially open door of the Hospital Wing, the light from the moon giving her a surreal quality as she looked at him in concern. Harry stared in surprise, wondering how the heck she'd gotten there and the heck did she manage to sneak up on him with his knowing. After all, he'd attuned himself to sensing her from a long way off so he'd have plenty of time to get the last word on Lee during one of their 'conversations'…

The reason immediately became clear as, with the distinct shimmer of an Invisibility Cloak being removed suddenly flickering in the air, Lee appeared, her crimson eyes looking positively dark in the gloom as she regarded Harry. In her hand was The Shield Card, and on her face a slightly smug, self-satisfied look. On anyone else, it might have just been a smile, but Harry knew his rival too well.

_Now_ he knew why he hadn't been able to pick up Winter. Lee had made a rather annoying breakthrough a few days after they'd finally gotten out of The Create Card (once more, Harry thanked his lucky stars Winter was completely incapable of using the Clow Card). Shield could be used to block of more than physical attacks. Having it shield you from detection– well, detection from Harry, anyway, since he was the only in Hogwarts that he knew of that could feel Lee– made it useless as a physical shield, and he could eventually get around it by feeling for a 'void'– which caused it's own problems for him since it meant tuning people out and not knowing exactly _who_ was coming towards him– but since he was seldom feeling for it, Lee had taken to sometimes using it to sneak up on him. It was actually how she'd managed to get The Libra Card during their last Card Captoring incident (as Winter had taken to calling them), which had involved a possessed statue of Justice asking them a bunch of embarrassing questions and judging their truthfulness. Lee had used The Shield to keep Libra from knowing if she was lying.

Harry really wished he'd been able to do that when Libra asked him whether he'd ever had fantasies about his friends.

He spared only a quarter second to glare at Lee– she glared right back for longer– before turning to Winter. "What are you doing here?" he asked quietly, trying not to sound rude.

She smiled at him and he wondered what he'd done to deserve her acknowledging his existence. Surely protecting the Philosopher's Stone and killing the Basilisk wasn't enough. "Keroberos told us you were here. He said something about time being messed up, and Lee said there were Dementors loose on the grounds. I got worried when Kero said you hadn't arrived at you dorm yet, so I had Lee use her Rashin board to locate you."

Harry's eyes flickered to Lee. Her expression clearly said she wasn't there of her own choice.

"What happened, Harry?" Winter asked, drawing his gaze back to her. Her brown eyes seemed luminous as she looked at him beseechingly, unaware of Lee rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and folding up the Invisibility Cloak behind her. "You're not hurt, are you? Was it the Dementors?"

"Yes, Potter, tell us," Lee said, the sarcasm audible only to his ears. "What happened to you that required a stay at the hospital wing? Did you have another encounter with Voldemort?"

Winter jerked in surprise as Harry stared at the Chinese girl, wondering where that had come from. This was the first time they'd ever talked about Voldemort. He was surprised to hear her call the man by name instead of using some elliptical statement. Regardless, it was a little too close to home…

By the end of his story, Lee was giving him the blandest look he'd ever received. "So basically, tonight you saw a supposedly dead man come out of Weasley's rat, Sirius Black is actually your godfather and innocent of any wrongdoing, you attacked a professor, released a dangerous Hippogriff in the care of an escaped convict, and only _just_ realized that our Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is a werewolf."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "You mean you _knew_ Professor Lupin was a werewolf?"

For an answer, Lee reached into a pocket of her robes and pulled out… Harry's eyes bugged as he looked at the small, ornate pistol. With a rather satisfied look, Lee popped open the chamber and held out a bullet. The tip shined in the moonlight. "Pure silver, designed to break after penetration and release silver nitrate into the bloodstream. Dangerous to humans. Lethal to werewolves."

Harry and Winter boggled as Lee nonchalantly put the bullet back in the gun and the gun in her pocket. "Have you been carrying that around all year?" Winter asked breathlessly, staring at the pocket the weapon had disappeared into.

"Of course," Lee said. "One can never be too careful when dealing with a werewolf."

"You were planning to kill Professor Lupin?" Harry hissed, barely able to keep himself from yelling the words.

Lee gave him a withering look. "Don't be stupid," she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a Card. "I carried it around in case he became dangerous… like he did tonight. Lupin's a good teacher, but not good enough to let him kill me."

She turned towards Winter. "I want my Cloak back tomorrow. Illusion!"

There was a shimmer, and she disappeared from sight, the Hospital Wings doors seeming to open and close on their own accord, leaving Harry and Winter alone in the hospital wing.

There was an awkward silence.

"You want some chocolate?" Harry offered, pointing at the still considerable block next to his bed.

Winter brightened slightly. "Thanks," she said, breaking off a not-so-small chunk and biting into it. "Hmm, tasty."

"Gets a bit too sweet after a while," Harry said, refilling his glass and taking another drink. "You might want to take it slow."

Winter looked up, her lips smeared with chocolate and the block completely gone. "Sorry?" she said, licking her fingers. "I didn't get that."

Harry sweat-dropped. "Never mind," he said. Man, she can eat fast. Heck, she ate faster than _he_ did! "So, why exactly are you here in the Hospital Wing, in a time and situation that many people and corporations consider fodder for hentai and lemons?"

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Hentai and lemons, huh? Should I be worried?"

_Maybe, because I adore you and have since the first year ever since I set eyes on you–_

"I was _joking_, Winter," Harry said. Rolling his eyes was the hardest thing he'd ever done. "Get your mind out of the NC-17 bin."

The two shared a laugh at the irony of that statement. After all, most of Harry's fics were in the 'NC-17 bin'.

Finally, Winter said, "Harry… _are _you all right?"

Harry plastered a smile on hi face. "I'm fine."

Experience should tell that these words mean absolutely nothing when spoken by Harry Potter.

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When Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Hospital Wing at noon the next day, the first person they saw was Winter.

"Hey," she said, ignorant of the significant looks and gestures Ron and Hermione were making behind her back as she peered at Harry closely. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Harry said, in much the same way he had last night.

Winter smiled, seemingly reassured by those words. Wrapping Harry in a hug, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, muttering, "You and Lee still owe me chocolate," before turning around with a quick wave. "See you around, Harry!"

Harry raised a hand to his cheek as, in the background, Ron and Hermione snickered, made celebratory noises and, in the latter's case, lewd comments as to what Harry could later that night. He wasn't sure if his cheek _really_ tingled, but he was pretty darn sure it was bright red.

"Maybe I should leave so that the two of you can get to fooling around," Harry said dryly, shutting them up pretty well and really making his day as both turned a shade of red that would probably look very nice on Winter.

Grinning, Harry wandered off, the two following behind him…

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Harry leaned back against the tree after talking to Dumbledore and Lupin, a part of him infinitely grateful to Winter for showing this place to him. A small smile played across his face. Had it really been that long since his first– dare he say it?– date with her?

Yes. Yes, it had been.

The young wizard opened his eyes, staring out across the lake. He'd come to like the liquid fire that burned across it's surface during sunset. The lake looked like pure gold when that happened, and from the rise, he could see every square inch of the lake's surface–

–including where he, Hermione and Sirius had almost been overrun by Dementors.

The next moment, Harry's fist was throbbing as he winced, rubbing his knuckles and pulling off grass and small pebbles. He wondered how Lee managed to keep from breaking her fists with those martial arts of hers. Heck, what he remembered of her fight against… well, Fight, involved her punching rock when she missed, which had been a lot.

Not for the first time that day, Harry reached into his pocket, finally pulling out the Clow Card that had been drawing it since last night. He stared at the seemingly innocent object in his hand (innocent. HA! He had to repeat THREE DAYS OF HIS LIFE because of this!), at the deceptively simple but, upon closer inspection, highly detailed illustration of an old man in a robe and holding an hourglass.

The Time Card.

It had made him repeat twenty-four hours three times. It had done so not by sending him back in time, as Hermione's Time-Turner had, but by actually _reversing_ time to undo the events of the past twenty-four hours. He had literally traveled back in time the same way one would have 'traveled' forward. A moment at a time, or close enough for jazz. But it had happened backwards.

The start of yesterday's failure wasn't quite eighteen hours old yet…

Harry's hand was already going up to pull out the Sealing Wand when a voice suddenly spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Keroberos suddenly found himself on the wrong end of a mundane wand as Harry started panting.

"Don't do that!" the boy snapped out angrily. "What do you mean?"

The Sun Guardian pointed at the Clow Card in his hand. "Winter told me what happened last night. I wouldn't use that if I were you?"

"Why not?" Harry demanded. "If I use The Time Card to reverse time, then I'll be able to fix what I did wrong. I'll be able to stop Wormtail from escaping, so Sirius can be free!"

Keroberos looked at him blandly, even more so than Lee had, which wasn't that hard considering what he had for a face. "You'll never make it," he said dismissively. "In fact, you'll only make things worse."

Harry bristled at the snub. "**_Why the heck not?_**" he demanded.

"Because you'll be dead on your feet by the time you get there," Keroberos said evenly, not looking at all flustered, even if the sight of a plushy look-alike floating around with it's arms crossed and looking all serious was a bit ridiculous. "You will in fact be so dead on your feet you'll probably sleep through the whole thing and change history."

Harry didn't get the point, and his glare pretty much said so.

With an exasperated cry, Keroberos did the equivalent running his hands through his hair in frustration. "Every time Time reversed time, he'd be useless for the next twenty-four hours! And it was the power _he_ was designed for! What makes you think you won't be completely drained if you do the time-rewind stunt?"

"What makes you think I will?" Harry countered, even though the idea had completely slipped his mind.

"**_BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT THAT STRONG, DARN IT!_**"Kero cried. "You're strong for a Wizard, heck you're probably the strongest student in the school, but this is still way out of your league."

"What if you're wrong?" Harry countered.

"Do you want to risk me being right?" was the comeback. "Because if I am– and I **_know_** I am– you'll just be making things worse."

Harry glared at Keroberos, his wand shaking in his grip. Finally, Harry thrust his wand savagely back into his robes, nearly breaking the piece of wood. He stared at the Card still in his other hand, before shoving back into the pocket with the other Cards. "Incredible power my ass," Harry growled.

Turning to face the sunrise, he plopped down beneath the tree staring determinedly at the setting sun, arms crossed in front of him and an expression somewhere between pissed and pouty on his face.

Sighing, Keroberos turned away. He'd already done all he could. He just hoped his charge wouldn't do anything stupid.

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"You planning to freeze to death, Potter?"

He didn't even bother to turn around. "Go play with Cloud or something, Slytherin Garbage."

Fei leaned back against the tree trunk, the sardonic smile never slipping from her face. "That would be a waste of time, Gryffindor Trash. " After all, she'd already let Cloud out for the day. While the Clow Card hadn't made as good a spy as, say, Sweet, and Little, Fei suspected she'd be useful for creating fog and other similar cover should the need arise. Not that she'd try it now. The stars were too beautiful to hide tonight. "Moon's wondering why you're not at dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

His stomach growled to mark the lie.

Fei rolled her eyes. "Starving yourself won't change anything, namagomi. If you want to, fine. But if you die, I swear I'm taking the Key and Cards off your corpse."

"Why so concerned, Yuri-teme?" Potter retorted, still not moving from his spot, even though there was nothing left to see but darkness. Not _yet_.

"I'm not. I just don't want my Card Sealer to die."

"Die painfully."

"After you."

The two kept sniping at each other, their voices whispering among the leaves above them as the moon began to shine, turning the lake to molten silver. The stars were very beautiful that night…

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Several days later… 

Harry stared out the window morosely as the Hogwarts Express started to pull out of the station. While the end-of-term feast last night had been fun, it still hadn't been enough to really knock Harry out of his funk. Tuning out Ron and Hermione's conversation, the Boy-Who-Lived-slash-Card-Captor watched as Hogwarts slowly migrated into the distance. It would be two whole months before he saw it again, to whole months with the Dursleys, before he saw Winter again. Lee might have managed to capture a Card or two by that time…

Harry felt his blood run cold. The Cards! He'd completely forgot! The Cards followed _him_ around, drawn to the Book, the Key, and Keroberos. Heck, they were probably drawn by the other Cards by now too! And that meant…

Clow Cards were going to follow him to the Durseleys within a week, _at least!_

Oh, he was going to be _so_ screwed.

"Oh, cheer up, Harry!" Hermione said, breaking into his thoughts.

_That would have been a lot more convincing if you weren't sounding sad, Hermy,_ Harry thought. "I'm okay," he said. "Just thinking about the holidays." Nightmarish images of what would happen if a Clow Card showed up at Privet drive flashed before his eyes.

Ron, lacking such images, said, "Yeah, I've been thinking about them, too," Ron said. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now–"

"A _telephone_, Ron," Hermione said, exasperated. "Honestly, _you_ should take Muggle Studies next year…"

Ron ignored her.

"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it. Dad can usually get tickets from work."

That cheered Harry up slightly, allowing him to push back the images of the massacre that would ensue when the Clow Cards come knocking on the Dursley's door. "Yeah… I bet the Dursleys'd be pleased to let me come… especially after what I did to Aunt Marge…"

Anything else Harry had to say was cut short as two things happened at once. One, his Clow Card Sense blared.

Two, there was a grinding sound and everyone was suddenly flung towards the front of the train. There were crashes as assorted luggage fell from the overhead racks. Harry himself got hit in the head by Hedwig's cage.

"What happened?" Harry said, rubbing his head where Hedwig's cage had hit it. Said owl was hooting indignantly and quite loudly, fluttering around inside her cage. Harry picked it up and was about to set it straight when he caught sight of something that made him dearly wish he had a camera.

"Hermione," he said, trying his very best to keep his face composed and his voice nice and even, because he didn't want his face to break into a wide, silly grin, or to crack up with hysterical, uncontrollable laughter, or sell tickets, or call the twins and Ginny, or… "what is your head doing on Ron's lap?"

The witch moved back with incredible alacrity, and for a moment, Harry pitied the fact she didn't play Quidditch. Such quick reactions would make her good for most positions. An amused and slightly perverted smirk came to his face. Of course, it would be a little hard to play with her head on Ron's lap…

"Why'd we stop all of a sudden?" Hermione said, looking rather red as she looked out the window.

"No idea," Harry began to say, then paused. Was that a _snowflake_ that just drifted past the window? He frowned, concentrating. Up ahead, he could dimly feel a Clow Card…

"'Scuse me, I have to go," Harry said, discreetly patting his inner pockets. Good. He'd remembered to bring his Invisibility Cloak with him.

Slipping out the door before either of the two could react, Harry made his way to the loo near the front of the car.

He was halfway to it when the door to the compartment he'd just passed opened abruptly, and Lee stuck her head out the door. "Potter, what's going on?" the Slytherin said, looking annoyed.

"Sorry, fruitloop, I've got more important things to do than chat," Harry said, not even slowing down as he opened the door to the stall– thank goodness it was empty, or he wouldn't be able to pull this off– and entered it dramatically– or as dramatically as one can enter a john– the door cutting off anything Lee might have had to say. Quickly, he slipped on the Invisibility Cloak, grateful that the stall wasn't cramped. Thank goodness for space-expansion magic.

Reaching for the Key around his neck, he pulled it off and quickly converted it into a wand as he pulled out a Card from his robes. "THROUGH CARD!"

There was a burst of power as The Through Card appeared, her robes rippling on unseen winds of magic. For an infinite moment, the two stared at each other, boy to sprite, Captor to… captive? No, not captive. Never captive. Partner. Yes, that's the word. Partner.

A moment, and then The Through Card was dissolving once more as Harry called on her power. This was something he'd come across not so long ago: Through Card plus Invisibility Cloak equaled total undetectability.

Harry tingled as Through's power came over him. There seemed to be a slightly… _off_ feeling to his body, one he recognized from the previous time's he'd used the Card. With a grin, he thrust his hand against one of the walls of the stall. His hand passed through easily, even though he couldn't see it because of the Cloak. The rest of Harry soon followed.

He nearly fell as he found himself outside the train, barely managing to put his Quidditch-and-Clow-Card reflexes to good use as he managed to land in a crouch, wincing at the pain that shot through his ankles. Deactivating The Through Card's effects, he ran as fast as he could to the front of the train, careful to keep his Cloak's hood up and the folds closed.

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"What do you think you're doing?" the bossy voice demanded.

Fei barely managed to suppress the urge to wince and/or swear. Casually, she took her hands off the door, keeping them in sight as she turned around to face the one who'd busted her. A wave of extreme annoyance–– she was a Lee, and hence, never lost her temper, so she didn't get mad– washed over her as she caught sight of the extremely annoying individual.

"What do you think you were doing there?" Weasley repeated, his Head Boy badge thrust almost insultingly forward.

"Just checking to make sure the door was secure," Fei lied smoothly. One good thing about ending up in Slytherin: you pick up _so_ many skills, such as lying through your teeth. She doubted her Aunt would know if she was lying now.

Fei frowned.

Okay, maybe her aunt.

"We wouldn't want anyone falling off the train now, do we?" Fei continued, switching to her 'talking to idiot prefects to piss them off without really being insulting' voice.

Surprisingly, it seemed to go right over his head. "Very civic of you, Miss Lee," Weasley said, sounding approving. Fei twitched. Like she needed this idiot's approval for anything! "Why don't you come help me make sure _all_ the doors are secured?"

Unable to really refuse such a direct request-slash-order, Fei had no choice but to comply, all the while glaring over her shoulder in the direction she knew Potter had gone…

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Four cars from the front end of the train, Harry was walking on snow.

Three cars from the end, he was shin deep in it.

Two cars from the end, he was wading through the stuff.

By the time he got to the train engine itself, he'd had to use Jump to reach the roof of the train just to have somewhere to walk on.

Harry let out a low whistle as he pulled the hood of his Cloak higher over his head, trying to keep it closed with one hand. No wonder the train had stopped so abruptly. It had plowed right into a ten foot high bank of snow. _I'm thinking this Clow Card has something to do with snow,_ Harry thought dryly. _What do **you **think, Slytherin Garbage?_

_Oh, I think you're absolutely correct, Harry-sama!_ a Lee sounding voice declared.

Harry grimaced. Even in his imagination, Lee was sarcastic.

Hefting the Sealing Wand, Harry slowly approached the drift, his senses alert. The feeling of the Clow Card seemed to be coming from everywhere. Frowning, Harry raised the Wand over his head. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form! SNOW CARD!"

Before Harry could slam down his wand, he was struck from the side by a large wave of snow. He just barely managed to grab on to the edge of the car to keep himself from falling. Looking down, he let himself drop, sinking into the snow beneath him.

A kick with his still Jump-enabled legs and he was out, dodging more blasts of snow as he twisted in the air. There was movement in the snow beneath and Harry was barely able to make out a vaguely feminine form.

It was official, Clow Reed had been a pervert. That was the only explanation of why The Snow Card was a girl instead of, say, a snowman.

Landing off the front of the engine car, Harry kicked of again, pulling another Card from his holster. "Thunder Card!"

Privately, he hoped this Card wasn't as loud as it implied.

It was a simple equation in Harry's head. Thunder Card makes lightning (no matter how much of a misnomer that was). Lightning always beats water (ask anyone). Snow is frozen water.

Hence, Thunder Card beats Snow Card.

Thankfully, he was right on both counts. Thunder _wasn't_ as loud as his name implied. And he _did_ beat Snow.

However…

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"Please, please don't cry…" Harry begged, head darting from side to side, wondering why no one had yet come out to check out the damage and very thankful for it.

"BWAAAHHH!" Snow bawled, rubbing her eyes as the tears (which turned into ice droplets) cascaded from her eyes.

"Look, I'm really, really sorry I had to make Thunder shock you –" off to the side, Thunder backed away and gave him a look that plainly said 'Hey, don't get ME involved in this!' "– and I'm really sorry if I got you hurt but, I really, really need you to get rid of all the snow around the train," Harry begged.

"BWAAAHH!" Snow kept bawling.

Harry looked at Thunder for advice– said Card promptly looked somewhere else and seemed to start whistling; well, no help there– then looked beseechingly at Snow. "Please stop crying. Look, um, what can I do to–?"

That was all he was able to get out before Snow suddenly stopped crying. He was just about to sigh in relief when he was suddenly tackled by a not-at-all-chilly snow maiden.

Up above, Thunder chuckled, idly looking over the edge to look at where the two had conveniently landed in a snow bank. He had been _so_ asking for that.

Now he'd just have to unweld the doors without his Master noticing.

Snow _so_ owed him one…

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It was hard staying on top of a moving train, Harry realized, especially when you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak.

Moving carefully and staying as low as possible to present the smallest profile (where did _that_ come from?), he tried to feel for an empty compartment beneath him, where he could use Through to get into and leave discreetly. Maybe he'll get lucky and not have to drop down into a lavatory…

He felt a familiar presence beneath him and grinned.

Wow, he didn't think he'd get _this_ lucky…

Winter yelped– quite loudly, really– when Harry suddenly phased through the ceiling of her compartment. She fumbled the notebook and pen she was holding, the items bouncing off her fingers as she tried to catch them. She made a lunge for the notebook and barely managed to get it in her grasp, sliding to the floor.

Harry plucked the pen out of the air and looked very pleased with himself. "Gotcha."

"Don't do that!" Winter said, giving Harry a very pouty look.

Harry rolled his eyes as he folded his Cloak to hide back in his robes. "Okay, I know when I'm not wanted. Guess you don't want to know how I captured The Snow just now." Harry raised a hand to open the door. "Well, I'll be going now…"

Winter's hand suddenly came up and slammed the barely opened door shut. Harry was hard-pressed to keep the smug look off his face.

"Tell me everything!" Winter demanded eagerly, her pen poised to write…

Harry had just managed to get Winter to stop giggling– try as he might, he hadn't been able to get around telling her about Snow's… assault, when the door suddenly opened and a familiar voice said, "Excuse me, but have you seen– Harry!"

Harry moved his hand in a despondent wave. "Hey, Herm."

"Oh, Harry there you are!" Hermione said, a rather pleased looking expression on her face. Next to her, Ron took one look and ducked out again. Harry heard something that sounded suspiciously like snickering soon after. "We were wondering what was taking you so long. Luna Lovegood said you might have fallen off a train and seduced by some kind of snow-maiden. Honestly, I don't know _where_ she gets her ideas… 'Course, she also said you might have to watch out for Schorlacks, or whatever…"

Maybe she's a Sear,Harry thought. That was disturbingly close to home.

"Nope, he's been here with me," Winter said, who was doing a very good job of not laughing at Hermione's words as she packed up her notes. "We've just been discussing the mechanics of a wrist-mounted wand holster. You know, kind of like what Jim West had in those old American cowboy shows?"

"Really?" Hermione said. "Intriguing…"

"Well, see you around, Winter," Harry said as he stood up and tried to hustle Hermione away. Ron was still too busy snickering to be a problem.

"Harry, wait!" Winter said as she pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to him. "Here's my number and e-mail address. Call me, keep me updated, okay? I want to know what's happening to you."

Harry went red. He knew she was talking about Clow Card stuff, but he could just imagine how those words would translate in the Dark Lady Hermione's perverted mind… "Thanks! Have a nice summer!"

"You too!" she said. He waved and closed the door behind him.

"Harry," Hermione said as they made their way back to their compartment. "You are a wuss."

"Oh, shut up, Herm…"

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

**- To be continued...**

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

A/N: I guess I've been reading one too many drabbles. I seem to like using the word 'Aftermath' in my titles for some reason…

The schizophrenic thing is because Harry keeps hearing so many voices in his head in the book. Ought to make for a weird fic, really…

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**Clow Cards…**

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Somewhere, a Clow Card was glaring at Snow. Well, not really 'glaring', since they weren't in physical form, but let us speak as if they were.

Anyway, a Clow Card was glaring at Snow.

"YOU DELIBERATELY THREW THAT TEST!" Mirror screamed at Snow, who was lounging around with a slightly goofy look on her face.

Snow shrugged without the slightest bit of guilt. "Hey, I was getting tired of waiting around. You're right, Light. He is a _very_ good kisser."

Mirror threw Light a disgusted look. "You helped her?"

Light shrugged. "So did Thunder."

"I can't believe you people! What happened to integrity? What happened to honor? What happened to testing his worth?"

"Hey, you're the one who sleeps with him," Dark pointed out.

"No, Dash does that," Mirror said, annoyed. Dash preened. Was _everyone _going to be so blasé about Snow throwing her test just so she could get a little lip?

"You're just jealous because he doesn't call you up as much anymore," Windy said airily.

"Shut up, Windy…"

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**End**

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Yes, Snow _did_ throw the test…

Please review, C&C welcome. Flames will be used to bake the perfect Ja-Pan!– _este_, I mean, the perfect Filipino Bread! Now I just need to work on these solar gauntlets…

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	24. End Of School, Start Of Hell?

A/N: to my knowledge, there are no sex-changing Saotome's in this world. But there is a perverted Clow Reed…

Thanks to **Dragon Man 180** for a couple of ideas.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 24, The Sleep: End Of School, Start Of Hell(?)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Harry managed to keep his face smooth all the way until the door behind him thudded shut. He managed to hold out until all the footsteps–Aunt Petunia's light and fluttery one and Uncle Vernon's thundering one– faded away. Only when he couldn't hear them anymore did he let himself go.

Sitting down on his trunk– which for the first time ever, the Dursleys had allowed him to keep his school stuff in his room– as Keroberos flew out from under his jacket (the very same jacket he'd first taken to hiding under so long ago in Diagon Alley), he threw back his head and let out a loud laugh, which he quickly stifled by clamping his pillow over his face. The pillow was pretty musty after almost a year of not being washed, but he didn't care. He was laughing too hard.

"_Those_ are your relatives?" Keroberos exclaimed, aghast.

Harry clamped a hand over his mouth. "Keep it down, will you?" he hissed at his Sun Guardian, while still fighting down snickers himself. "They might hear you!"

The look on Uncle Vernon's face when he told him he had a convicted criminal– an _escaped_ convicted criminal– for a godfather had been interesting, to say the least. He just wished he could see the look on Aunt Petunia's face when she found out…

Just as he was considering pulling out his Cloak and The Through, there was a loud cry from downstairs.

Harry started snickering all over again. Keroberos rolled his eyes at his charge.

Looks like Aunt Petunia just found out…

Unstrapping the Card holster from around his arm– it was starting to get sweaty– Harry reached into his robes, pulling out the Clow Cards and fanning them open in his hand. He knew that they could hear him. However, what he had in mind was something better off done face to face. Running his finger through them, he stopped at a particular Card. Hmm… _she_ hadn't been out in a while…

"Kero, keep an eye out for my relatives, will you?" Harry said as he pulled the Clow Book from the small of his back. He'd have to thank Winter again for the harness she'd made. Who knew she was so handy? Hermione had ruined him, making him think _she_ was the only smart girl around. "I don't want them walking in on me."

"If they do, just erase their memory," Kero said, flying to the door and placing one enormous ear on it. "It's a simple wizard spell…"

"Yeah, '_Obliviate_'," Harry said as he put the Cards back in the Book. "I know. Had a wannabe-bishounen-uke try and use it on me last year. Backfired on him pretty bad."

Harry paused thoughtfully, his hand poised to put back the last few Cards back where they belonged. "Come to think of it, what _did_ happen to that Fab Five reject?"

Somewhere in St. Mungo's, Lockhart sneezed, and had no idea why.

Shrugging, Harry put the thought of his most testosterone-challenged teacher out of his head as he looked at the Card he hadn't put in the Book. Reaching up around his neck once more, he pulled out the Key.

For a moment, Harry starred at it. Had it been only a year ago– no; less- less than a year ago that he had first seen this, hanging before him…

_From the lock came a sphere of light, which flew over to Harry and hovered in front of him. "Take it," Keroberos said…_

"Harry?" Kero said, turning slightly to look at him while still keeping an ear on the door. "You okay?"

Harry shook his head. "Yeah. Just got a little lost on memory lane," he said, still looking slightly wistful. "Remember Diagon Alley?"

Kero gave him a strange look. "Yeah, I remember. Why?"

Harry shrugged. "Just thinking how simple things were then," he said. "No Lee, no professors, no prefects. A Card hanging around every corner. Capturing them as simple as taking them out to lunch." He sighed in nostalgia. "It was a simpler time…"

Kero rolled his eyes, snickered a little. "Just get on with it already," he said. "I haven't got all day"

"Sure you do, Kero," Harry said. "After all, I can't feed you here, so you have nothing else to do. _Absolutely **nothing**_."

"WH–!" Harry was able to grab Kero and clap a hand over his mouth before the inevitable exclamation. He gave his Sun Guardian an annoyed look.

"Do you mind?" he said, half-annoyed, half-amused. "The point of you being here is to _keep_ my relatives from finding out about you guys, not _so_ they can find out."

Keroberos nodded frantically, and Harry let him go.

"_What do you **mean** you can't feed me?_" Kero hissed.

Harry tossed the Key into the air and caught it on the way down. "Give me a minute and I'll explain. And keep an ear out for my relatives, will you?" Harry could still feel them downstairs, but he wanted a backup in case he got distracted.

Keroberos, still twitching over the fact he might not be fed all summer, resumed his post as Harry held the Key out in his hand. The Card Captor remembered the first time he spoke these words…

_Harry faced the approaching shadows, Key in hand. Just what the heck was he doing? _

_Sighing, he raised the Key in his hand and began to chant…_

"Key of power, show me your true form," Harry intoned, his eyes closed, mind lost to memory as a golden circle of light began to glow at his feet. "I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"

Harry always liked this moment. The words he used to summon the Sealing Wand from the Key meant so much more to him than any spell he'd ever learned in school. He never tired of the wind that always seemed to pick up as the Key changed form. The way strange wisps that surrounded it as it changed, which now reminded him of how the Cards dissolved. The way the muted, dull brass of the Key turns into the shining red of the Wand.

However, as Harry grasped the middle of the Wand and plucked it out of the air, giving it a brief unconscious twirl, he realized he's never going to get used to that bird's-beak head.

Moving towards the bed, Harry bends over slightly to pick up the Card he left on top of The Book. Taking it between two fingers, he flicks it into the air with a practiced gesture with one hand as he pulls back the Wand with the other. "Mirror Card!"

Wind rose once more as the head of the Wand arced through the air, striking The Mirror Card dead center. At once, the Card began to dissolve, becoming a giant mirror that rose before Harry. Through the glass, he could see The Mirror Card's sprite, a moment before she slid forward, passing through the surface as if through water, and coming out a perfect copy of Harry.

Harry had time to put down his Wand before he suddenly found himself at the receiving end f a very enthusiastic hug. "Master!" Mirror said in his voice. "It's been so long!"

Twitching slightly, Harry tried to look as heterosexual as possible as he did his best to subtly extricate himself from Mirror's arms– not an easy task. "Um, Mirror, could you please change into a girl? This is kind of creepy."

Mirror blinked, his brow crinkling slightly as a mild ripple passed through her. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as the body pressed against him suddenly acquired the soft curves he'd become used to, if grudgingly. "Is that better, Master?" Mirror said, her now-female voice a soft whisper of his own.

"Much," Harry said, now feeling properly straight. He made a note never to hug Ron.

"So," Mirror said, loosening the hug slightly but still hanging around Harry's neck, looking him in the eye. "What did you want to explain to Master Keroberos and myself?"

Harry took a moment to thrash his brain after pulling it out of the gutter– he was _not_ a narcissist, darn it! Mirror did _not_ turn him on!– before gesturing that Mirror take a seat in his bed. Harry remained standing, pacing slightly as he kept one ear to the door, a part of his mind on keeping track of his relatives, and another on the part at hand. "All right," he began. "Now that we're living here, there are a few things you all need to understand…"

By the time he finished his explanation on the Dursleys– how they hated the mere_ mention_ of magic, how they didn't like _him_ very well (or at all), how Dudley liked to beat on him, etc.– Keroberos had a properly aghast and indignant look on his face. Mirror was looking murderous.

On the grand scale of things, the Dursleys weren't so bad. Vernon and Petunia didn't beat him, although they did nothing about Dudley picking on him. The food they gave him, while small, came regularly, unless they were punishing him. They clothed him, and had sent him to school, despite all their bellyaching about it. And while they didn't love him, they at least tolerated his existence. And as for the chores, they made _him_ do it because they couldn't have _Dudley_ do it. After all, Aunt Petunia worked at the house too.

Harry had realized he could do much worse than the Dursleys after accidentally finding those articles on child abuse at school. At least he wasn't chained to anything, wasn't sexually abused, not punished without– in the Dursleys' minds– cause, and they let him out of his old cupboard when he was younger. The resulting pain they caused him was mainly because they were blood relation, and very much didn't want to be. There's nothing like not being loved by your own family.

Harry had basically resigned himself to all this, knowing that living with the Dursleys was a delicate balance. And as for the love, well…

But Kero had _never_ heard about this from Harry until now. And even though he'd been created at a time when it was normal to treat people like that, it usually wasn't done unless the person was a lowly servant, or the relatives were really big asses. Thus, he was properly outraged.

Mirror, however, had been raised with lots of love and understanding, first by Clow, then by Harry. Even though Clow had been a perverted pervert, he'd loved his Cards, raising them like a good parent (anything they might have picked up from him– like French-kissing techniques– was purely unintentional). And Harry? Well, he was Harry. Compared to Clow, he was an indulgent, tolerant, overly doting, easily pleaded with, overly loving parent. Under the two of them, the Clow Cards had picked nothing up but good values, lessons in acceptance (encounters with Lee not withstanding, since they knew her inner worth anyway, and that Harry respected _very _deep down), tender loving care, and good habits (again, the unintentional corruption from Clow not withstanding).

Naturally, the Cards loved Harry very much, and cared for him deeply. Is it any wonder that Mirror– and the other Cards, probably– was looking murderous?

After his explanation, Harry found himself in the very unlikely position of having to defend the Dursleys to keep Kero and Mirror from doing unpleasant things to them. Kero was of the firm opinion that they should _all_ be made to live in the cupboard under the stairs, while Mirror simply wanted to make them suffer (it can be assumed that the other Cards felt the same way).

For the first time in his life, Harry was worrying about the _Dursleys'_ well-being…

Still he couldn't help but listen– just a little bit, mind you; he was still a good guy– to some of the things Mirror was saying she and the other Cards would do to them given half a chance. Because despite the defending he did– he was still reeling from that– he _did_ want to get a _little_ revenge too…

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Harry had a few days before his _dear_ cousin arrived home and he didn't waste a moment of it. After getting Keroberos and Mirror– who was representing the Cards in this little matter–to grudgingly let go of their idea to have the Clow Cards do horrible things to Harry's relatives– without his planning and permission, anyway (at that, three identical evil grins had graced their faces)– Keroberos settled in Harry's closet, hiding inside an old birdfeeder of Dudley's (how or why Dudley had a birdfeeder at one point in his life was a mystery). Thankfully, the Dursleys didn't want to mess with Harry's stuff, so Kero's little hideaway was safe. Harry's biggest problem was feeding him to keep him quiet (that part of the explanation seemed to have gone through one big ear and out the other). He barely had enough food for himself as it is! For a moment, he wished he had The Sweet Card. Of course, if he was making wishes…

Anyway, while Dudley was gone, when the other two Dursleys were asleep, Harry snuck into Dudley's room, picking the lock like the twins had taught him. He had Sleep keep an eye out to keep the two unconscious– politely ignoring the fact that Sleep spent her time kicking their noses as they slept– as he furiously typed nearly a year's worth of fics and uploaded it to his account (nearly every first review he got was from Winter saying 'FINALLY YOU UPDATED!'). He also printed out a year's worth of updates on the ones he was following (fortunately, Dudley was too dumb to notice his 'magically' disappearing ink and paper).

When Dudley finally arrived, he was promptly told about Harry's convicted mass murderer godfather and joined his parents in their newfound wariness. When the diet sheet showed up, however, Harry immediately called for backup. Along with the food from Hermione, Hagrid and Mrs. Weasley, Winter had sent him some energy bars and freeze-dried foods (she said her aunt had sent it to her for him after Winter had told her he needed help).

There was also a letter in the mail addressed to him detailing the benefits of Tibetan meditation techniques to control the body's urges. The pictures of stick-thin, nearly dead-looking old men were very disturbing. Apparently, Winter had told Lee about his problem and sent her his address in hopes she'd help him.

The Slytherin fruit-loop _still_ managed to get under his skin from halfway around the world!

Unfortunately for Harry, Lee wasn't around to get back at.

_Quite_ fortunately for Harry, Dudley was…

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It began one morning…

"Rise and shine, Dudley-kin– AAAHH!" Aunt Petunia screamed.

Harry, downstairs preparing breakfast (which meant taking out the grapefruit and putting the knife next to it), ruthlessly pushed down his smile at the cry. Apparently, Rain's little surprise had been discovered.

"What the devil's going on up there?" Uncle Vernon groused, putting down his paper and going upstairs.

Harry set out the glasses and grinned widely in his privacy as uncle Vernon's cry of "You're still wetting your bed?" echoed down.

"Good work," Harry told the Clow Card hovering outside the window. "Next time, make it seem like he peed all over his room in his sleep too."

Rain gave him a thumbs-up.

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Harry was inside, washing the dishes under Aunt Petunia's watchful eye, when Dudley, who'd been about to step out to join his gang of idiots, future lumps and convicts, suddenly gave a cry, followed by several more.

"Dudley-kins!" was Aunt Petunia's battle cry as she rushed out to do a Greenpeace and save a whale.

There were several more cries in Aunt Petunia's tone as Harry gave himself a moment to crack up, composing his face just in time after he heard the front door close. Calmly, he turned around and looked at his aunt and cousin with the most innocent look he knew– and since he'd been around the twins, that was saying a lot.

"Why do you have snow in your hair?"

Snow, Shot and Dash exchanged high fives in Harry's room as they heard Vernon screaming about young fools who had nothing better to do than keep snow in their freezers and attack poor innocent children.

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Then there was the time Harry had been sent to the post-box around the corner and came back to the house to find the Dursleys staring at the ten foot-tall sunflowers and stalks of corn growing on their front yard…

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"…and it took them two days to get rid of the things, and the neighbors wouldn't stop asking how such plants could get into their front yard without them noticing."

Harry allowed himself to look self-satisfied as he listened to the sounds of Winter's laughter. He'd managed to salvage a working touch-tone phone from Dudley's cast-offs, using an electronics book, some tools also found among Dudley's cast-offs (_their_ presence was easier to explain) and wire to create a pirate connection that hooked into Dudley's DSL.

"And the best part was they _really_ couldn't blame me since I was off on an errand, and I'm not allowed to do magic outside of school," Harry added, pleased with himself.

He could hear Winter shaking her head through the line. "You're incorrigible!" she said.

"Hey, they deserve it!" Harry said.

Winter, who'd been sent a letter via Hedwig explaining Harry's circumstances, giggled in agreement. "Can't argue with that. So, how's summer homework treating you?"

Harry grimaced. "I'm trying not to think about it. Honestly, _why_ give us summer homework? It's against the principle of summer vacation."

"Oh, come on!" Winter said. "It's not _that_ bad. One must never stop learning."

"Is that something they say around Ravenclaw?"

Giggle. "Guilty as charged. Oh, by the way, I've thought of some improvements I could do to your holsters. I think I can convert the mechanism to be activated by a voice command. I just have to test out the charm…"

Ah, life was good.

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the world… 

Lee Fei grumbled slightly as she bent over her desk, various textbooks, notes and paraphernalia surrounding her as she wrote on a sheet of parchment, her head flicking to the side every so often to check her notes. Her aunt, in her humble opinion, was being totally unreasonable and illogical. Fei thought it was logical to assume that the Clow Book, the Sealing Wand, and the plushy– she was _not_ about to dignify that toy with a name!– were drawing the Clow Cards to the Card Captor, creating the perfect environment to Seal them. Her aunt seemed to agree. However, if that were the case, why did she declare that Fei couldn't go back to England until she'd finished all her homework?

Between training with her cousin and Wei and reading the fics that **Raijinkage the Writer-Sama** and **Tsuki no Tenshi **had finally updated, it would be a wonder if she could finish her homework before the end of July.

For a moment, she wondered if maybe she should cut down on her reading to get her homework done faster,and immediately backed away from the thought at Warp Nine. No _way_ was that happening!

Sighing, she went back to the essay she was supposed to be doing…

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About a week after Harry's arrival, a day or two after the beginning of the diet regime, Harry quietly slipped out of number four, Privet drive, wearing one of Dudley's long-sleeved shirts. He'd already done the chores for that day, and No one would mind his disappearing. Why, they'd likely wish it was permanent!

Oh, who was Harry kidding? They've been dreaming of him permanently disappearing before they even met him!

A quiet stroll was all Harry really wanted to have that day as he let his feet to go where they would. He wondered if there was anything worth buying at the import store today. At the very least, there'd be a years worth of new manga he'd like to pick up. Fortunately, he'd saved the money he'd taken from Gringotts earlier that year, which he knew would be more than sufficient to buy what he wanted.

For a moment, Harry allowed himself to dwell on an idle daydream on what he'd do if he wanted to run away from the Dursley's, something he'd taken to doing after the little incident last summer. He'd take his stuff, of course, as well as Hedwig. The Cards were a no-brainer, as well as Keroberos. And then… what? Go to Diagon Allley and buy a magic, space-defying trunk? Various books detailing spells he shouldn't be able to learn yet? Perhaps a new identity? Some magical means of leaving the country? And all provided, probably, just because he was the Boy-Who-Lived and had waved an obscene amount of money under someone's nose, never mind there were probably a hundred and one laws against it, as well as a ton of bureaucratic paper work. Then what? Get training to be able to fight Voldemort on his own? At thirteen?

At that point that Harry broke down laughing at the absurdity of his musings. Just because he managed to buy one incredibly-powerful-magic-book-not-a-book at Diagon Alley– for two Knuts, no less!– didn't mean he'd be able to again. Heck, besides this, all those other old books had been useless biographies, dry philosophical texts, and a book by someone named Lina Inverse that supposedly detailed spells that anyone off to save the world ought to know.

Right. If it were _that_ easy, Voldemort would have died a lot earlier.

Hmm, he wondered if any **_Slayers_** figurines had become available at the store. He could use a cute little Amelia…

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Harry allowed his steps to take him to the park, which was empty this time of day. People wouldn't start frequenting it regularly until later on in the summer, so for the time being, he had the place to himself. At this hour, the gate wasn't locked, so he merely strolled in, plunking himself down on one of the swings. One swing was scraping against the ground, doubtlessly broken by Dudley's gang. At the rate they were going, there'd only be one swing left by the time Harry was fifteen.

Pushing off, Harry allowed the constant, repetitive motion to relax him as he closed his eyes. A week and still no sign of Clow Cards, other than the ones he already had. That was good. He didn't even want to _think_ about what could happen if they popped up. Still, he did anyway. Images of witch hunts, mass destruction and possible expulsion graced is mind.

Still, despite that, he couldn't help but feel impatient. It was like standing under a grand piano that was supposed to fall and not being allowed to move from the spot until it did. It was _really_ annoying. He almost wished a Card would pop up so he'd be allowed get out from under the piano. Of course, once the first one fell, it would start _raining_ pianos…

Idly, Harry wondered if Rain could make it rain pianos and snickered at the thought.

Kicking as high as he could, Harry waited until he'd reached the apex of his flight before allowing himself to fly off the swing, landing on his feet as the momentum caused him to stubble a couple of steps forward. Turning slightly, he looked at the swing nostalgically. He used to love doing that. Back when he was younger, it was the closest he could get to flying. Well, that was before he learned about Quidditch…

Deciding that now was as good a time as any to go to the import store, Harry began to walk towards the gates, passing the little sandbox as he went.

Without warning, the sandbox suddenly attacked.

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Back at Privet drive, Keroberos was adjusting his mirror to provide the best possible view of himself. Thanks to Harry's electronics book, the wire, tools and a salvaged bulb, his little birdhouse shelter now had electric lighting.

As he lay down on his bed– salvaged from a _really_ old plush toy of Dudley's– Kero felt a bit of energy in the distance. For a moment, he stood up, gauging it before he lay back down. Harry could take care of it. He always did…

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Harry, at that moment, wasn't sharing the sentiment. He'd managed to bolt after the first tentacle of sand whipped around his leg, but after the second and third, he'd fallen and began to get dragged towards the sandbox. Reaching towards his neck, Harry fumbled for a moment with one hand as he tried to pull himself forward with the other, leaving furrows on the ground. It might have been funny if it were happening to anyone else.

Finally tugging off the Key, Harry ran through the incantation faster than he'd ever had in his life, the glow was brief, and Harry immediately proceeded to try to wack the sand off his legs. The sand crumbled a little and he was able to pull off one leg, but the ones on his other leg merely tightened their grip, continuing their relentless pull.

Trying futilely to slow himself down with his free leg, Harry gripped the Sealing Wand between his teeth as he pulled up his right sleeve, revealing his Card Holster, the Cards securely fastened. Pressing the proper buttons caused the Cards to fan open. Harry took out a Card.

He was almost to the sandbox when he threw the Card into the air, slamming the head of his Wand into it. "SWORD CARD!"

Tendrils of magic surrounded his Wand, reforming it into a slim, narrow blade. Without thinking, Harry slashed down twice, severing the tendrils of sand as they wrapped around his leg. Kicking off, Harry rolled backwards before settling to his feet, his Sword up and ready.

The sandbox fairly exploded, particles flying all over as sand overflowed, pouring over the edge as it began to flow towards Harry. More tentacle-like tendrils lashed out towards him as he started backing away, his Sword-given instincts helping react effortlessly to the attacks.

"All right, Sand Card," Harry muttered, slashing wide as he tried to discourage the tendrils from potentially reproducing a scene out of a henticle. He wouldn't put it past Clow Reed to somehow teach his impressionable little Cards to do something like that! "What to do, what to do…"

His mind cast back to the Fight he'd had with 'Gaara' in The Create Card's fic-world. While not exact, this situation had lots of similarities. Now, what had he done again…? Oh yeah!

Harry deactivated Sword as he took a couple of big steps back, keeping an eye on the sand and hoping he didn't trip over anything. "Rain Card! Snow Card!"

Two snaps of the Wand, two flashes, and the small cloud riding Sprite and the taller yuki-onna look-alike both materialized before him. "Rain, douse the sand! Snow, help her!"

The two split off as Harry leveled his Wand at the sand. "_Aguamenti!_"

Harry's blast of water was a lot more effective against the sand than Sword was. He wished he still had his Create Card powers, though. Having a water-based bloodline limit would have made this _so_ much easier…

Still, a fire-hose blast is still pretty darn effective.

Harry's blast kept the sand at bay as a small rain cloud materialized above the sandbox, dousing anything Harry couldn't reach, while Snow began to slowly chill the sludgy mixture. While it wasn't as fast as the bloodline limit had been in The Create Card, it was the best Harry could do, since he didn't happen to know any spells for freezing things (he was tempted to start chanting in ancient Greek, but figured that even if the spell _did_ work, he really didn't want to be frozen himself).

Eventually, the three of them managed to freeze the sand in place. It was difficult going until Rain had the brilliant notion of having Snow dump snow on top of the sand. After that they just had to wait until everything froze over.

"She's not hurt under there, is she?" Harry asked as he, Snow and Rain waited, watching the enormous pile of snow dumped on top of the sand.

"'Her'?" Rain repeated. Snow looked at him, one eyebrow raised in amusement.

"I'm simply going by past precedent," Harry said, sitting down between the two Cards on the swings, far from the sand. "With the exceptions of Time, Shot, Firey, possibly Shadow, and the non-anthropomorphic–" "OOH, big word!" Rain exclaimed. " –Cards, all of you have been female– which really makes me wonder about Clow Reed. So it's sake to assume Sand is female. Than again, I could be wrong. But if a giant raccoon appears, I will be very much surprised."

"Giant raccoon?" Rain said.

"She'll be fine," Snow said. "Besides, you had Thunder electrocute me, and I'm still here, after all."

Harry fidgeted in his seat slightly. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that."

Rain, unseen by Harry, rolled her eyes, knowing perfectly well that what Thunder had used to 'electrocute' her was barely as bad as a static shock.

Snow waved a hand negligently. "Don't worry about it. Um, I think our Sand-cicle is just about done."

And indeed, it was. When Harry had Snow shove the snow away, a pale, frozen sand sculpture was revealed, looking like some kind of final boss from out of an RPG.

"Is it over?" Harry said warily, his Sealing Wand held before him in both hands, ready to swing at a moments notice.

"Looks like it," Rain said, moving her cloud a little higher to get a better look.

The ground shook.

Harry immediately started backing away. "That can't be good…"

That was when the ground erupted in sand.

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Winter Moon loved her summers. It was bliss, pure and simple. Except for the times she had to go out to buy groceries, pick up packages and browse stores, she got to stay at home. If she was lonely, Jenny was right next door to talk to, and her aunt would call occasionally to hear from her and find out if she was all right.

Still, it got kind of lonesome living by yourself. As Winter sat in front of her computer, either reading or writing, she wondered what Harry and Fei were doing. She hoped they were all right…

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Harry hated multi-stage bosses. Really, you spent so much time and MP and HP and items whittling them down to size, and just when you thought you could kick back to watch as they died screaming, BOOM, they come back bigger, with more abilities, deadlier spells and more HP than ever before. He'd consoled himself with the knowledge that this didn't happen in real life. After all, Voldemort wasn't likely to suddenly pull a 'more powerful, kickass form' on him if they ever fought.

He was half right.

"I hate multi-stage bosses," Harry grumbled as he used a combination of Jump and Dash to play 'keep away' with Sand's new giant tentacles. The frozen portion he, Snow and Rain had spent so much time and effort making was now resting on the top of the pile of sand like a demented crown. Said two had been dismissed a while earlier– _without_ their kiss, which Harry knew he'd be paying for later– when Harry realized freezing was no longer an option.

Well, at least it wasn't Voldemort pulling out a second form.

Dismissing Dash to conserve energy, Harry pulled out another Card as more sand-ticles started to swarm him. "Windy Card!"

The sprite manifested in time to create a tornado-like shield around Harry, blowing apart the particles of sand as they tried to encircle and, for all he knew, do perverted things to him (damn Clow Reed). Harry pointed in the general direction of where thee body of Sand seemed to be concentrated. "Windy, RASENGAN!"

The wind construct struck true, sending sand flying all over the place as the ball of wind began to grind into the huge mass.

"Windy, DETONATE!"

The Rasengan construct exploded, ripping the main body of sand apart in a burst of air. The tentacles shuddered, giving Harry an opening to jump over them as Windy took care of any that reached too high.

"This is getting repetitive," Harry said as he touched down a safe distance. He looked sideways to Windy. "Got any ideas?"

Windy tapped her lips thoughtfully, absentmindedly sending cutting waves of air at the tentacles of sand reaching for them. Harry wondered if he could get her to develop that into something like Temari's _Kamaitachi_. She already had the _Zankūkyoha_ down pat…

"Well…" Windy mused, ignoring the damage her element was inflicting behind her. "You _could_ ask Earthy for help. This is more her thing…"

Harry didn't notice the sand twitch and slow down, as if pausing. He thought, and dismissed Jump. Pulling out another Card, he flicked it into the air, ignoring The Sand's shudder of horror. "Earthy Card!"

What followed was something he'd never have imagined happening in a hundred years.

"**SAND**!" Earthy yelled as soon as she was solid. "Get down here! **Now**!"

Harry raised an eyebrow as the entire mound of sand seemed to twitch, shrinking in on itself. Windy was looking smug, her face practically screaming "Ain't I great for having such a good idea?".

"I'm counting to three," Earthy said threateningly. "If you're not here–" she pointed in front of her " –when I get to three, there will be… consequences."

There was an even bigger twitch.

Earthy raised a finger. "One…"

Yet another twitch. The demented crown fell off.

Another finger. "Two…"

The tentacles were now waving frantically.

"Thr–"

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, I'M COMING!" a voice suddenly cried.

The sand body seemed to vaporize, dissolving into the air as so many particles. In a whirl of silicate, a Clow Sprite appeared right where Earthy had pointed, looking very pouty. "Bully," she said, glaring at Earthy.

Sand was, as Harry correctly guessed, female, with long, straight hair, a large, oval red jewel on her forehead, and, for some reason, a headphone-like headband. She was wearing vaguely Arabic clothing in sand-tones, which matched her hair quite nicely.

"You may Seal her now, Master," Earthy said, giving Sand a _look_. Sand kept on pouting.

Harry hesitated. "Um, you know, I won't if you don't want me too," he said, speaking directly to Sand.

Earthy blinked. Sand's head snapped up in astonishment, finally knocking the pouty look off her face. Windy facefaulted painfully out of the air.

"**HUH?**" the three of them chorused.

Harry shrugged. "Well, as long as she promises to stay out of trouble and not attack other people," Harry said, eyeing the sandbox. Sand had the grace to look uncomfortable. "I mean, I don't want to Seal you if you'll resent me for it…"

The two senior elemental Cards were looking at him like he'd grown a second had or something. Sand was boggling.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Would you three stop looking at me like that? It's getting uncomfortable."

There was a moment of silence…

----------------------------------------

"So she was actually so embarrassed at how nice you were being that _she_ **_asked_** _you_ to Seal her?" Winter said in astonishment later that night.

Harry nodded, even though she couldn't see. "Uh huh," he said quietly, careful not to wake up the Dursleys. "Could you believe it? First time _that's_ ever happened."

Winter whistled over the line. "Wow. Wait a minute, let me find my notebook, I've got to write this down…"

Harry groaned. "Can't it wait 'til the weekend, Win'? It's late, and I wanna sleep. I _did_ just fight a Card that Gaara might have been proud of."

"Procrastinator," Winter accused cheerfully. "Which reminds me, have you done your homework yet?"

Again, a groan.

"You haven't even _touched_ it, have you? _Haaarrrryyyyyy…_"

"I'll get to it, I promise!" Harry said.

"You'd better," Winter said warningly. Harry almost imagined it was Hermione at the other end of the line…

After finally putting down the phone, Harry sighed, and stared at his yet-unopened trunk. Well, he might as well see how much stuff he had to do.

Sighing again, Harry moved to touch his trunk for the first time that summer. He had a moment to feel something that screamed 'Clow Card' before the lid popped.

A pair of pastel yellow eyes stared straight back at him…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

–**Complete…**

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

A/N: And so, Card Captor Harry, Season One, is complete.

So, lets see what the Card Count is:

Harry has a whopping twenty-three Cards. In order, we have: Windy, Mirror, Dash, Shadow, Jump , Wood, Earthy, Flower, Shot, Time, Dark, Light, Thunder, Sword, Rain , Float, Erase, Through, Glow, Song, Sleep, Snow and Sand. If you think you missed some, that's because they were taken between episodes.

Lee, however, has a grand total of fifteen Cards. In order, we have: Fight, Loop, Maze, Sweet, Little, Big, Arrow, Illusion, Shield, Fly, Move, Voice, Firey, Libra, and Cloud.

Finally, tailing the very rear, we have Winter with only one Card, The Create (which, thankfully for our hero, she can't even use).

Please know that this isn't good-bye, nor is everything over. Harry still has a few more cards to go through. No, this is just the end of an arc. Harry continues on! If fact, he's continuing in my upcoming story, **_Card Captor Harry: Hong Kong_**!

Anyway, here's a sneak preview from that story:

"_Finally!" Harry wheezed, the Sealing Wand shaking in his hand as Shadow stood behind him, keeping the sprite he'd been chasing in place. "It's time to end this."_

_Solemnly, Harry raised the Sealing Wand above his head. "I am the Card Captor," he said, by way of introduction, "and I order you to return to your true form!…"_

_Harry paused. "Um, which Card is he?"_

_Behind him, Kero and Sleep fell out of the air as they facefaulted. _

…

…

Heh, couldn't resist the Lockhart-bashing there in the beginning. Out of all the characters, he seems to be the one who gets bashed the least. I aim to correct that…

No offense to anyone whose story is close to the situation I've described. I'm not targeting anyone, so please don't flame me. I'm just pulling a **Gexegee** (of **Organization VI**) and poking fun at a popular trend.

Please review, C&C welcome. I would like to thank all the people who've reviewed this fic, the forty-one people who've put it in their C2's, and those who've put this under their favorites. Thank you, thank you for your support! Please continue supporting Harry in his new story…

This is the Shadow Crystal Mage, signing off…


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